


Petalpocalypse

by abby10, gryffindormischief, MagicGirlinAMuggleWorld, thejilyship



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Jilytober 2019, Tropes On Tropes On Tropes, WE CERTAINLY HAVE, WE HOPE YOU ENJOY, WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE, jilytober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21259286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abby10/pseuds/abby10, https://archiveofourown.org/users/gryffindormischief/pseuds/gryffindormischief, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicGirlinAMuggleWorld/pseuds/MagicGirlinAMuggleWorld, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejilyship/pseuds/thejilyship
Summary: Jilytober 2019 - Prompt: James accidentally calls Lily "Lily Potter" to her faceWhat do you get when you combine two classroom enemies, only one chemistry book, the blizzard of the decade, and drinking games? The tropiest Jily fic of all time!





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PetalsToFish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetalsToFish/gifts).

> Happy final day of Jilytober!!! Only a day of happiness!! Nothing bad happens on this day!!
> 
> The biggest thanks to Petals for bringing us all together! Who knew it would lead to alllllll this?
> 
> And try to count the tropes! We have certainly lost count!
> 
> (Also we split this into 2 parts to try and make it a bit more manageable! But it's all one biiiiig fic!)

Sirius smirks back at the bride and groom as he walks up to the microphone. He’s holding a tumbler of whiskey and his tie has been loosened. Peter told him earlier that he looks a bit like a pirate, between his rolled sleeves and his eyeliner. He can’t remember where he left his jacket but he can’t be bothered at the moment. He’s also not thinking about all the warnings both James and Lily have given him in the weeks leading up to this night. 

_ “Nothing too embarrassing, Pads,” _James had lamented. 

_ “My gran will be there, nothing that’s going to give her a heart attack, please,” _Lily had repeated at least a dozen times. 

But Sirius has known since James first mentioned that he was going to start ring shopping what story he would tell when he was best man at their wedding. 

And he’ll be damned if he lets a few warnings from his friends get in the way of a good, honest story. 

He taps his fingers against the mic and clears his throat. “Evening, ladies and gents,” He grins, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear as he winks at Benjy Fenwick. “I have to say, I’ve been waiting a long time to come up here and share with you all. It’s important to me that you don’t walk away from this big, fancy party tonight thinking that James and Lily are perfect, articulate, well put together people. Because the truth of the matter is, that the only reason that they’re here tonight is because of a snowstorm and a poorly stocked library. So, allow me to tell you the story of how they met.” 

He takes a sip from his glass and someone behind him clears their throat. He turns around, expecting it to be Lily or James, but sees Mary MacDonald, the Maid of Honor, standing up from her seat and walking around the table. 

“Oi, you’re next, sit down.” He points back at the table, and a few members of the audience laugh. Sirius turns to flash a grin at them. 

“Yes, yes, but you’re taking my bit.” Mary teeters out on her heels, motioning to the side of the stage for someone to bring her up another microphone. “Besides, you don’t have all the juicy messages that I have from Lily that night.” 

“Mary,” Lily says, her tone holding the same level of warning it had when Sirius suggested sharing with the guests how cute her heart shaped birthmark was and just how he came to know that it was on her ass. 

“Shush, Lils.” Mary waves her comment away as someone rushes her a mic. She sets the stand next to Sirius’s. “Plus, Black, I made a slideshow.” She has a small remote in her hand and presses a button, causing a stream of light to cast an image on the screen that had been showing innocuous pictures of the bride and groom only a few moments ago. 

**How to Positive Think Your Way into Lily Evans’s “Life”**

_ The Lady Doth Protest Too Much _

Sirius laughs and nods, taking another sip of his whiskey. “Perfect. Alright, joint speech then. It all started on a dark and stormy night...” 

“I’d just like to preface all of this by saying that I was right from the get go, and that Lily should always listen to me to avoid—”

“It was a dark and stormy night!”

“Right, yes, very dark, very stormy.” 

* * *

Lily had done her best to brush the snow off her shoulders and hat before she walked into the library, but she could tell that she was still contributing to the small trail of white powder that led away from the doors. 

She cursed the weather, because despite the fact that she normally enjoyed a nice light snow, she had things to do, and the weather was getting everyone in a tizzy. The buses were all running late, and the roads were extra full of people trying to get somewhere as _ slowly as they possibly could. _

Despite the fact that she had come directly to the library after her last class ended, it had taken her almost an hour to get here. And since there was a quiz tomorrow, and only a limited number of books in the library that the quiz was going to cover, she had a sinking feeling in her gut that the rest of her classmates had already beaten her here, and when she went to look for the book she needed, she would find the shelf empty. 

She stomped off her boots on the rug once more for good measure, and then sent out a silent apology to whoever was going to have to clean up the wet, icy mess that she and the rest of the student body had tracked in. 

It was a rather large library, but despite the multiple floors and hundreds of aisles, Lily knew exactly where she was headed. As a chemistry major, most of the books she needed where located in a nice and tidy little section of the library on the second floor. 

She walked off toward the stairs when she caught sight of a familiar mop of spectacularly messy black hair, getting into the elevator. And of course, attached to the hair was a person. A person that Lily did not want to see here.

James Potter. 

The bane of Lily’s academic life. 

If there was a way to say that he was the Joker to her Batman without sounding both extremely nerdy and extremely dramatic, she would. But there wasn’t, so she settled for being both nerdy and dramatic and said it anyway. In her head at least. And once to Mary in a text.

She quickly looked around and considered jumping behind a nearby potted plant to avoid him spotting her, because the thought of a confrontation with him so soon after their only shared class had ended was unbearable. 

But there wasn’t time to hide behind a plant.

He was coming to get the book that she was here for. 

The book that the library housed only a small number of copies. 

The book that might be gone because she was so late getting here. 

Before the doors of the elevator closed, Lily ran for the stairs. Her bag was sliding down her shoulder and her hair was bouncing into her face, but she ran up the stairs as well, nearly colliding with a wide eyed student who hadn’t expected to get accosted by the likes of her in the stairwell. She quickly apologized and then forced herself to enter the second floor quietly, pushing her hair away from her face and then stepping out of the staircase. 

She heard the elevator ding as the door closed behind her, and so she started speed walking in the direction of the chemistry books. She couldn’t run here. Here she could be stopped by a librarian and asked to stop making so much noise, here she could be given death glares by the peers that she normally studied beside. 

Luckily she could speed walk very quickly, _ and _ quietly. 

She pulled the post-it note out of her pocket so she could remind herself of the title she’d already memorised, and began scanning the shelves for the right last name. Why were there so many names that started with an ‘H’? 

She was in the wrong aisle. 

When she rounded the corner, her eyes fell on James before the ‘J’s and she deflated when she saw that he was pulling a book off of the shelf. 

“Evening Evans,” He said without looking at her. “I think this here is a story of the tortoise and the hare, no?” He turned his head and that stupid smirk of his was playing at the corner of his mouth, like he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to tease her. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lily huffed, pulling her bag up her shoulder and then reaching up to straighten out her hair. One shouldn’t run up stairs if they wished to remain un-disheveled. Not that she cared if James saw her disheveled or not, she wasn’t trying to impress him. It wasn’t as though he could say anything anyway, not with his hair looking the way it did. He probably didn’t even own a comb.

“Alright, perhaps that was a different redhead I saw racing for the staircase.” He shrugged. “Either way, I’ve got the last book.” He twisted the book in his hands and his smirk was even less pronounced, which didn’t take away the sting of his bragging. 

“Bloody brilliant.” Lily bit the tip of her tongue and looked at the shelf anyway. He was telling the truth, he had pulled the last copy. She didn’t know what she was going to do now. It wasn’t as though she could afford to do poorly on a quiz, she needed to maintain her good grades, and even a small blip like this would be noticeable on her otherwise spotless record. 

She cleared her throat and looked up at James, who was still standing in front of her, looking as though he were chewing over something in his mind. “Would you mind if I made a few copies of some of the pages?” 

“Oh,” James’ hand jumped into his hair. She hated it when he did that, always mussing it up, trying to recreate how it looked when he was finished playing football. It might work with other girls, but Lily wasn’t interested and he would have to be thick not to know that. “Yeah, I didn’t think of that. I think the copier is over by the reference desk.” He nodded in the direction that Lily knew the copier to be. She said nothing, only turned on her heel and led the way. 

“You’ll just need the second and fifth chapters right?” James asked, moving up so that he was walking beside her instead of behind her. 

“Technically they’re lab reports.” Lily corrected, feeling proud of herself. He corrected her in class whenever he had the opportunity, and while she did the same thing to him, it was nice to be able to correct him outside of class as well.

“Hell, Evans, don’t look too happy now.” He tapped his fingers along the spine of the book. “I could always decide that I actually don’t have the time to let you copy _ my _ book.” He jerked up his arm to look at his watch. “I mean, it is getting late, and with all the snow…” 

“Shut up, Potter.” She muttered, reaching out and taking the book out of his hands as they approached the copier. She stopped in her tracks just short of the machine, spotting a large orange paper informing everyone that the card reader on the copier was broken and that the machine was only accepting coins at the moment. 

She didn’t have any coins on her. 

She turned to James, “Do you have any coins?” 

He looked around her at the copier and sucked in a breath through his teeth. “I do not.” 

“Well isn’t this just great.” She looked down at the book in her hands and debated sprinting across the room with it. But surely he was faster than she was. He was an athlete and all that jazz, and Lily considered taking the trash out to the dumpster to be exercise. 

And also that wouldn’t be entirely fair of her. After all, he had been trying to be helpful in letting her copy the pages she needed. 

She couldn’t steal his book just because the copier was broken… 

No. She couldn’t. 

She handed it back with a sigh and tried to go over who would send her their notes on the chapter from class. It wasn’t as good as looking over the source material, but it was better than nothing. She could ask her lab partner, Severus, but she didn’t think things were that dire just yet.

“You know,” She looked up and saw that James was still standing in front of her, his hand, impossibly, still in his hair. She blinked, surprised that he hadn’t just walked off and let her stew in her dejected thoughts of semi-mediocrity in peace. 

“Why are you still here? I thought you wanted to get out of here before it snowed any more.” She snapped and hitched her bag up her shoulder. It wasn’t fair that he got the last book. That was just one more thing he could hold over her now. One more quiz where he would score higher, but this time it was because he had an advantage she lacked. 

“Wow,” His hand jumped up to his hair. “I’m sorry that the copier isn’t working, but there’s no need to get short with me.” 

She pressed her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest, not willing to admit that he was right. 

“I was just going to ask you if you wanted to come back to my place.” 

Lily’s brows shot up her forehead. James just looked at her, waiting for an answer. And boy was he going to get one. “Are you joking right now?” she asked, ever aware that she was in a library, no matter how aggravating he was being. She couldn’t yell. “We have a quiz tomorrow and you just _ waltzed _ in here ahead of me, took the last book, and now you’re _ hitting on me _?” 

James looked absolutely befuddled for about two seconds, which was one second longer than it took Lily to realize her mistake. _ Oh _.

“No,” James shook his head, his hand jumping back up into his hair. “I’m not hitting on you. I meant that you could come back to my flat to study with me.” He held up the book as evidence. “To study,” he repeated. And then there was the smirk. The smirk that promised he was about to correct her on an answer she just gave, or add something to what the professor just said to show off. It promised that she was going to have to spend an extra hour with her nose in her text book, just so that he didn’t beat her by one measly point on the next exam. Again. 

“Though I’m surprised your mind jumped there so quickly, Evans. Do you frequently think about me hitting on you?” He folded his arms over his chest, the book encapsulated by his biceps. Not that she had noticed his arms. She hardly ever looked at them in class. 

“Don’t be absurd. You’re the one that was all, ‘you wanna come back to my place,’” she dropped her voice and tilted her head back and forth as she mocked him. 

“So is that a no then,” he asked, and she hated how smug he looked just then. She hated that she’d given him an excuse to be smug.

“No,” she sighed, letting her hands fall to her side in defeat. “No, it’s not a no.” 

“Wow, Evans,” he let out a laugh, “Don’t let the enthusiasm carry you away.” 

She took a deep breath now, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. He was offering to let her study with him, offering to allow her access to a book that she wouldn’t otherwise have.

And so she was going to have to swallow some of her pride here, and attempt to have a completely normal and civil interaction with James. “Thank you, Potter. I do appreciate this.” 

He blinked at her, probably waiting for the punchline, but she didn’t say anything else. And then she tried to give him a pleasant smile. It probably looked like a grimace because he laughed and then started walking toward the door. 

“Come on, Evans. My car is out front.” 

And she followed after him, for the sake of achieving a near perfect score on tomorrow’s quiz and for no other reason. 

No other reason at all.

* * *

** Lily Evans to Mary the Snail**:_ currently on my way to my actual mortal enemy’s flat. send help. _

Mary Macdonald to Lilith:_ omg. are you talking about potter?? _

Lily Evans:_ unfortunately _

Mary Macdonald:_ are you finally going to have your wicked wicked way with him _

Mary Macdonald:_ run your fingers through that lustrous hair you always talk so much about _

Lily Evans:_ of course not!!! i needed a chem book from the library for a quiz tomorrow. he was already here and had grabbed the last one. he offered to let me come back to his to study from it. that’s all. _

Lily Evans:_ and i only rant about his stupid hair because he won’t quit playing with it in class!!! _

Mary Macdonald:_ suuuuuuure ;) _

Mary Macdonald:_ be safe use protection xoxo _

Lily Evans:_ you’re foul. goodbye. _

***

** James Potter to Pete Sucks:** _ OKAY SO NO BIG DEAL BUT CHEM GIRL IS COMING OVER RN TO STUDY _

James Potter:_ PLEASE TELL ME THE FLAT IS REASONABLY TIDY _

James Potter:_ AND THAT SOMEONE FINALLY TOSSED PETER’S CHEESE OF THE MONTH _

Sirius Black:_ ooooooh chem girl huh?? _

Sirius Black:_ ;) ;) ;) _

Sirius Black:_ bow chicka wow wow _

James Potter:_ IT IS LITERALLY JUST TO STUDY. SHE DEFINITELY STILL HATES ME. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE IT WORSE _

Sirius Black:_ i wish i was home so i could put rose petals and rubbers everywhere. but alas. im still stuck at my experimental theatre class for another few hours. _

Peter Pettigrew:_ can we change tha group chat name pls??? _

Sirius Black:_ do you remember the new wifi password yet? _

Peter Pettigrew:_ …… no _

Sirius Black:_ then absolutely not _

James Potter:_ NO ONE HAS ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS. WE ARE ALMOST AT MY CAR. PLEASE TELL ME THE FLAT IS CLEAN _

James Potter:_ HELLO??? _

James Potter:_ I KNOW YOU ARE ALL GETTING THESE TEXTS!!! YOU ARE USING THE GROUP SNAPCHAT _

James Potter:_ OKAY ABOUT TO DRIVE HOME. YOU ARE ALL THE WORST FRIENDS EVER I SWEAR. UNLESS THE FLAT REALLY IS CLEAN IN WHICH CASE I AM BLESSED TO HAVE SUCH WONDERFUL FRIENDS IN MY LIFE. _

Remus Lupin:_ Drive safe! _

Sirius Black:_ eyes on the road ;) _

James Potter:_ i hate you all_

* * *

"Well," James said, unlocking the door to his flat. "Here we are."

He was uncharacteristically nervous as he pushed the door open and stepped inside. The large living room was as clean as he’d ever seen it, and he sighed with relief, then frowned at himself for caring what this girl thought of his place. Sure, she was incredibly fit, but she was also a bit of a swot if her behavior in class was any indication. And kind of stuck up, wasn’t she, with the way she’d accused him of hitting on her when he was _ trying _ to do the gentlemanly thing by offering to share the bloody textbook. Hmph.

Not that he was above hitting on her, in theory. But given the open hostility she showed him during lab, he wouldn’t dare. It would be terribly inconvenient for her to know he’d developed this little crush on her when she so clearly despised him.

"Nice place," Lily said, scanning the room as she followed him inside. She seemed nervous, too. "Is your flatmate here?"

"Flat_ mates _," James corrected, reaching up to ruffle his hair. He hoped she didn’t still think this was some ruse to get her alone. "I'm not sure. Oi! Is anybody here?"

"Just me," Remus said, strolling out of his bedroom to greet them. He blinked in surprise, and his lips curved up in a grin. "Lily? You're the girl from James' chem class?"

"Hey, Remus! Yeah, I guess I am." She side-eyed James before turning back to Remus with a genuine smile. “You’re his flatmate?”

“One of them, anyway,” Remus said, nodding. “The responsible one.”

“That’s debatable, _ Moony _,” James muttered. He raised his voice to a regular pitch. “You two know each other?”

"Yeah, we've got Professor Binns for Ancient History.” Lily rolled her eyes and grinned at Remus like they shared an inside joke. “He’s so old, he probably lived through half the stuff he’s lecturing about.”

“Too right. I love history, but this is the most boring class I’ve ever taken,” Remus added, slinging an arm around Lily’s shoulder. “Luckily, Lily keeps me company.”

For the record, this interaction did not make James jealous at all. Not even a little bit.

“Right,” he said. “So, erm—”

"Wait, but what have you heard about _ me _ ?” Lily asked, nudging Remus with her elbow. “‘ _ The girl from James’ chem class’ _ sounded kind of ominous, you know.”

Lily directed her question at Remus, and therefore did not notice James giving his roommate an unsubtle death stare.

Remus grinned. "Only that you've had the misfortune to be paired with Snape for lab," he said smoothly. 

"Ah, it's true," Lily confirmed with a shudder. "He's so gross. And such a prick."

James raised his eyebrows. "I thought you liked him!"

She turned to James with a look of such utter disgust that he actually flinched. "Wow,” she said. “No wonder you hate me so much, then.”

"I don't hate you! I just thought—” 

"That I’m friends with a literal Nazi. Right."

“No, no. I didn't think that at all,” James said quickly. He tugged on his hair self-consciously, then blinked. “Wait, he’s a Nazi? I thought he was just a snotty, know-it-all wanker with an aversion to shampoo.”

“Oh, is that all?” Lily asked, and her lips twitched like maybe she was fighting a smile. She shook her head. “Well, you’re not wrong. But he goes on rants about how the university’s full of foreigners now, talking all the spots meant for good British folk, things like that. Makes me sick.”

“Ugh, didn’t know that,” James said, grimacing. “Guess that explains those nasty looks he gives me during lab. Probably wishes my mum would go back where she came from, eh? Never mind she’s a third-generation Londoner.”

“Probably,” Lily said. “Or he might just hate you because you’re more posh than he is, or because you’re always showing him up in class. Who knows? Sometimes I think he hates everything and everyone.”

“I can’t help being better in class than he is,” James said, shrugging. He hadn’t meant to sound arrogant, but facts were facts. “I know chem theory backward and forwards.”

“And you’re so modest about it, how could anyone not love you?” Remus asked, and Lily snorted out a laugh.

James certainly did not think that snort was cute. Snorts are inherently not-cute, obviously.

He mussed his hair again. “Bugger off, I know what I’m good at, all right? And I’m good at chem. Right, Evans?” He turned to Lily and winked, leaning into the cocky bastard schtick. “You never would’ve agreed to revise with me if I weren’t.”

“As if I had any choice,” Lily sniffed, folding her arms over her chest. But she shrugged and added, “You _ are _ pretty good at chemistry, though. I was surprised when I saw our last quiz grades—I didn’t think you put any effort into anything other than football and flirting.”

“Excuse me, I put effort into plenty of things!” he said, momentarily losing his grip on the extreme confidence he’d been projecting. “And you’ve never seen me try to flirt!”

The sarcasm was so thick over Lily’s next words James was surprised she didn’t choke on it. “Well, that’s a relief,” she drawled. “Because if I had, I’d say your game needs work. Like, tons of it.”

James blinked. _ That…almost sounded like a challenge _. “Is that so?” He raised his eyebrows and bared his teeth in a slow smile. “You wouldn’t be able to handle my game, Evans.”

She had the nerve to look amused. “Oh, I doubt that, Potter.”

Before James could come up with a proper retort, Remus cleared his throat. “Okay, well, seems you two have a lot of _ studying _ to do, so—”

“Yeah! We really do!” Lily interrupted him. A slight blush spread over her cheeks. “At least someone’s focused.” She glared at James, but it didn’t feel sincere. “So, where are we going to work?”

James rolled his lips in to hide a smile. He’d never seen Lily Evans flustered before. She almost seemed..._ embarrassed _ to have been caught enjoying their banter. 

Her pink cheeks were even cuter than her snort (which was, of course, not cute). 

He composed himself and nodded towards the sofa. “We’ll use the coffee table,” he said, gesturing.

Lily’s eyes followed his finger, and she blinked rapidly. She licked her lips, then parted them as if to speak. No words came out.

James purposely did _ not _ focus on those parted lips, letting his gaze follow hers, instead. 

He cringed when he did. _ Right. _ Calling the centerpiece of their living room a coffee table was generous, to say the least, when it was in fact Peter’s bedroom door, removed from its hinges and resting on two milk crates.

“Oh, yeah,” James said. “It’s not a table, exactly—”

“We had a table,” Remus offered, “but Pete broke it, so…”

“Only fair that he had to give up his door to replace it, yeah?” James finished with a shrug. “Works nearly as well, you’ll see.”

“Boys,” Lily muttered, shaking her head. She set her bookbag on the floor and lowered herself to the sofa with a sigh. “All right, let’s do this.”

“Right, well, I’ve got some reading of my own to finish, so I’ll leave you to it,” Remus said. He waved and smiled. “Good to see you, Lily.”

“You too, Remus.”

James tried not to glare at his flatmate as he ambled back towards his bedroom. It wasn’t Remus’ fault, but it also wasn’t fair that Lily seemed so comfortable with him when she was still eyeing James with such suspicion.

He sighed and sat on the sofa, as far from Lily as he possibly could. "Right, so. How shall we do this?”

“We should read the chapter and the labs first and use them to flesh out our notes from class,” Lily said promptly, seemingly glad to have work to focus on.

“We've only got one textbook, we can’t both read it,” James said reasonably. “Why don't we start with the review questions, sort of like a quiz?”

“How does it make sense to take a quiz before we’ve read the chapter?”

“Well your way doesn’t make sense either, unless you’re planning to read it aloud to me?” He raised his eyebrows and grinned, crossing his right ankle over his left knee as he leaned back against the couch. “I wouldn’t mind that.”

Lily scowled, and her cheeks flushed red again. “Ugh, no! Fine. We’ll start with the review questions.”

_ Don’t stare at her, she already thinks you’re a terrible flirt. _

“Brilliant.” The word came out more clipped than James meant it, so he offered her an awkward smile to balance it out. She smiled back, but sort of the way a person does when dealing with a babbling child or a madman.

_ Brilliant indeed. _

James opened the textbook and flipped to the end of chapter two for the review questions. Lily pulled both a lined notebook and her laptop out of her bag. Her notebook was color-coded, with highlighted sections and various tabs, but James was pleased to see that her handwriting was loopy and free and nearly illegible. Another little peek beneath the prim armor she wore.

“Start with something simple, eh?” James said, skimming the questions related to the assigned chapter. When she nodded, he asked, “What are the two types of ions?”

“Anions and cations,” she said, without hesitation. “Anions are negatively charged and cations are positively charged.”

“Perfect.” James beamed at her, and got a small smile in return. “You want to ask me one, now?”

From there, they slipped into an easy groove, taking turns asking each other questions, helping each other with the tough ones and adding more detailed explanations from the chapter when necessary. James tried not to look overly impressed when she listed the eight noble gases on the periodic table from memory. He was pleased to see that _ she _ looked impressed when he rattled off the differences between covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds with ease.

He brought out soft drinks and cheese and crackers, and she offered him one of her many highlighters when his ran dry. At one point, Lily slid down to the floor and sat on her heels as she bent over the makeshift table, hard at work on a diagram of the molecular structure of Chloric acid. James stretched out on the sofa and tossed a football in the air while he explained the difference between the valence bond theory and the molecular orbit theory of chemical compounds. She understood the chemicals and the calculations, he understood the concepts behind them. He hadn’t known it when he’d invited her, but their strengths and weaknesses complemented each other perfectly.

When they finished the first of the two assigned chapters, Lily laced her fingers together and stretched her arms up to the ceiling, arching back towards the couch with a satisfied groan. James swallowed hard.

_ Don’t stare, don’t stare, don’t stare _.

She grinned at him from upside down. “It’s going well, isn’t it?” she asked as she straightened up.

He hadn’t known she could smile like that, not at him. That smile made him feel like he could take on the world. Like they had something to build on. Like he could show her that he wasn’t a creep, he _ was _ charming, and he did know how to flirt, dammit. He wasn’t just a football-obsessed class clown. He was a serious, sensitive _ man _. A man who was interested in her.

He blinked. Somewhere during his internal monologue, he’d forgotten what she’d asked him. “Erm, what?”

_ Brilliant, Potter. Brilliant. _

But Lily just smiled some more. “I was saying, I feel good about that chapter.”

“Right.” He shook his head, trying to clear the fog she’d put him under. “Me, too. We make a great team, don’t we?”

Lily cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Looks that way.”

_ Hmm. _Less enthusiastic than he’d hoped for, but he’d take it. He ran a hand through his hair. “Right, so, should we take a break before the next, then? I can make us some tea?”

“No tea for me right now, thanks. I’ve still got this,” Lily said, lifting her soft drink and taking a sip. “And we should just keep working, I think. Otherwise we’ll be at it all night.”

James’ eyebrows shot up and he gasped in mock-surprise. “Evans, are you propositioning me?” He shook a finger at her. “There you go again, with your one-track mind. Just like in the library. I told you, I’m not that kind of bloke.”

He expected her to blush and get indignant, like she usually did when he made cheeky comments. Instead, her lips twisted in a smirk as she slowly looked him up and down. “Oh, you’re _ totally _that type of bloke,” she said. “But you know that’s not what I meant.”

James’ hand leapt to his hair. “Hold on, what’s _ that _supposed to mean?”

Lily’s smile grew and she snorted again. “You’re so full of it, Potter,” she said, shaking her head. “Now, just let me tell my flatmate I haven’t been abducted, and then we can get back to revising.”

* * *

** Mary Macdonald to Lilith:** _ hey when are you heading home from your study date ;) _

Lily Evans to Mary the Snail:_ so not a date _

Lily Evans:_ and probs pretty soon. Why? _

Mary Macdonald:_ the weather is getting super bad so just… be careful _

Lily Evans:_ mary macdonald was that sincerity I detected?? in text form no less?? _

Mary Macdonald:_ shut up. finding another flatmate halfway through the year would suck. _

Mary Macdonald:_ (and ily to bits of course but now is not the time for feelings. now is the time for feeeeeeling if you know what im saying ;) ) _

Lily Evans:_ not happening!!_

* * *

Lily locked her phone and looked up to see James flipping back and forth between a few pages.

“Something the matter?”

“Just trying to figure out the fourth review question.”

“I can help you with that. But then I think I am going to have to get going. My flatmate just texted me and said the weather is getting even worse, so I should probably get home.”

James’s face fell for a half second before he managed to school it into a neutral expression as he pulled out his phone and checked the time.

“Oh shit. Didn’t realize how late it had gotten. Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright!” Lily rushed to assure him, before feeling slightly embarrassed about how emphatically she had said that. “I just mean… we’ve had a productive time! So that’s good! I feel ready for the quiz!”

James looked as though he wanted to say something, but she quickly turned her attention to the textbook and shuffled through her notes to find the page that she had worked out the fourth question on.

“Okay, so basically because you are dealing with a gas instead of a liquid…”

Lily talked him through her answer and how she’d calculated it for a few minutes while James took notes. By the time she finished her explanation, he was nodding happily.

“Got it! Thanks. I don’t know why I didn’t have this in my notes.”

“If I recall correctly, you were a bit busy sticking insulting sticky notes to Snape’s back.”

“Ah yes,” James laughed. “Very important business.”

Lily couldn’t help but laugh a little as well, mainly due to the proud face James made when he recalled this incident.

“Anyway,” she started as she gathered up her notes. “I should probably get going.”

“Here, let me help you!” James offered as he grabbed her backpack for her.

They sorted through the various papers on the table and stuffed Lily’s in her bag. She started to zip it up when James held out her blue highlighter.

“Can’t have you forgetting this,” he said seriously but with a slight smirk.

“Of course not,” she said, matching his serious tone. “This highlighter is my most prized possession. I would have been lost without it.”

“Well we can’t have that,” he replied.

Lily reached for the highlighter, but as she tried to grab it, James held it up over his head.

“Too slow,” he teased.

“James, stop using your freakish height to inconvenience me,” Lily said as she tried to stretch her arm to reach the highlighter.

After a few attempts to grab it, she tried to jump for it. James, however, was unprepared for this, and they both came tumbling down onto the couch.

Both of them blushed and stuttered as James tried to roll off of Lily’s body. But just as they started to untangle their limbs, the door burst open.

“OH THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHT….” Sirius hollered as he jumped through the open door, stopping suddenly when he spied the scene on the couch. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

“NOTHING!” Lily shrieked as she shoved James off of her.

“PETE! DON’T COME IN!” Sirius shouted over his shoulder. “WE ARE INTERRUPTING AN INTIMATE MOMENT!”

“SIRIUS!” James shouted from the floor. “Knock it off!”

“Fine, fine,” Sirius said, putting his hands up before walking over to Lily. “I do not believe that I've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance. I’m Sirius.”

“Yes, I do think I would have remembered that,” Lily remarked dryly. “I’m Lily. I’d say nice to meet you, but I’m not so sure it is at the moment.”

“Ooh, feisty! I see why you like this one so-”

“ANYWAY!” James interrupted loudly before Sirius could keep talking. “Lily was just saying she needed to get going before the weather gets any worse.”

“Going? Going where?” Sirius asked. “It’s a bloody nightmare out there. Took Pete and I an hour to get home. Isn’t that right, Pete?”

“Yes,” Peter said as he entered through the front door. “A whole hour trapped in the car with that one. It was awful.”

“No need to be rude!”

“You insisted on playing your weird Russian podcasts the whole time!”

“Immersion is the best way to learn a language!”

Peter looked like he was about to continue to bicker with Sirius when Lily decided to remind them of her presence with a loud throat clearing.

“So like Potter said, I do need to get home.”

“How far away do you live?” Sirius asked.

“Only about a 20 minute walk. Not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?!” Peter exclaimed. “Visibility outside is basically only a few inches, and the snow is so high it’s nearly impossible to walk in! The city has even put out a notice warning people to stay indoors and off the roads! You can’t possibly be thinking of going home now!”

“But-” Lily started to argue.

“No buts,” Sirius interrupted. “Pete’s right. It’s dangerous out there.”

“But…. but….” Lily feebly tried to dispute.

“Sorry Evans, but it sounds like you’d be crazy to try to head home right now,” James said apologetically. “I’d offer to drive you myself but it sounds like that’s an equally bad idea.”

Lily looked between the three men and quickly realized she was not going to win this battle. She slumped down into the couch and let out a groan.

“Fine. I’ll stay. Let me just text my flatmate letting her know.”

* * *

** Lily Evans to Mary the Snail:** _ so…. the roads are apparently too bad for me to head home. i have to stay the night here _

Mary Macdonald to Lilith:_ omg oh noooo _

Mary Macdonald:_ jk _

Mary Macdonald:_ this is amazing news. just you and potter alone all nighttttt _

Mary Macdonald:_ maybe you’ll need to cuddle for warmth ;) _

Lily Evans:_ um we aren’t alone. his 3 flatmates are here. _

Lily Evans:_ and not happening! the flat is perfectly warm already! _

Lily Evans:_ i just can’t believe i have to spend the night here of all places _

Mary Macdonald:_ look I don’t believe in a god or anything but this seems like some kinda fate I’m just saying _

Lily Evans:_ THE ONLY KIND OF DIVINE INTERVENTION THIS IS IS SATANIC _

Mary Macdonald:_ because u wanna be a sinner ;)_

* * *

“Okay, I let her know,” Lily said as she put her phone away. “Looks like I’m officially here for the night.”

“Brilliant, that's settled!" Peter clapped his hands together before pulling his mittens off and stuffing them in his pockets. “I’ll make us some hot cocoa.”

“Sounds like a party to me!” Sirius declared. “I’ll sort the entertainment!”

“It’s not a party, there’s no need for entertainment—” James began, but Remus interrupted him.

“I thought I heard moronic yelling,” he said, wandering out of his room. “And something about cocoa? What’s going on?”

“Jamesie’s date is staying over,” Peter explained.

“She’s not my date!”

“I’m not,” Lily agreed. “I’m only here because he took the last chem book.”

“Well, whatever you call it,” Sirius said, waving a hand. “She’s stuck here tonight, so let’s be on our best behavior, right lads?”

Peter snorted. “That’s rich, coming from you. At least I’ve offered her refreshments.”

“I’m a model of civility and charm, thank you. And entertainment is just as important as snacks.”

“I just told you, there’s no need for entertainment!”

“Oi, let’s stay focused!” Remus said loudly. He raised a stern eyebrow at his friends. “Pete, you mentioned cocoa?”

“Yup!” Peter held up a plastic shopping bag. “I ran into Marlene from four-B on my way to work and she said Dorcas has come down with a cold.” He fidgeted and didn’t meet the boys’ eyes as he added, “So I thought I’d take her some soup, and maybe make some chocolate biscuits to go with it, you know? But I’ve got a ton of baking chocolate here, so there’s enough for us to have some cocoa first.”

“Bravo, Pete! Your obsession with Dorcas serves us well for once,” Sirius said, jiggling the shorter boy by the shoulder.

"I'm not obsessed! I just think she's a nice girl, is all!"

“You are obsessed. But as long as you’re planning to make enough biscuits for me to have treats all week, I support your obsession fully,” Remus said.

Lily rolled her eyes. “_ I _ think it’s very sweet of you, Peter,” she said. “I’m sure Dorcas will appreciate it. And I wouldn’t mind some hot chocolate, if you’re making it.”

Peter beamed. “Brill, I’ll get that started. And I’d never make chocolate biscuits without saving you some, Remus.” He looked offended at the very thought. He gestured toward the television as he made his way through the living room and into the kitchen. “You lot find us something to watch, yeah?”

"On it," Sirius replied. He leaned in and stage whispered to Lily, "And Dorcas is definitely a lesbian."

"You don't know that!" Peter called.

"We do," James mouthed to Lily, and the boys laughed.

"All right," Sirius said, still chuckling, "what'll we watch?"

"No, no, no,” Lily said quickly. “No entertainment, remember? We can take a break for cocoa, but then Potter and I have got to get back to our studying.”

"Who reviews chemistry during a snowstorm?” Sirius demanded. “Your quiz will be postponed, anyway."

"You don't know that," Lily countered. “I prefer to be prepared.”

"I know lots of things,” Sirius replied. “Dorcas is a lesbian, Pete’s hopeless, and classes will be cancelled tomorrow. And either way,” he continued, “if by some miracle I’m wrong, I’m sure you’re plenty prepared. Aren’t you some sort of laboratory genius, top of the class, etcetera?”

Lily hmphed. “Not quite. But I hope to be after this quiz.” She shot James a look. “So Potter's welcome to do whatever he likes after his cocoa, but I'm going to review the lab reports for the next chapter.”

Internally, James cringed. It was possible, _ hypothetically _ , that on a day when Lily had seemed exceptionally annoyed with him and exceptionally proud of her lab project with Snape, James _ might _ have come home and told Sirius that just because she was brilliant and fit as fuck didn’t make her _ better _ than anyone else. He _ might’ve _ , _ hypothetically _, suggested that no one cared if she was the smartest bird in the room if she was going to be so hell-bent on proving it all the time.

If he _ had _ said those things, in theory, he would’ve just been venting, perhaps about a lab test gone wrong or a funny, clever girl who seemed to think him nothing but a nuisance. But _ of course _Sirius would take any such theoretical musings literally. And of course he would bring them up now.

James cleared his throat and changed the subject. “No cocoa for me, sadly. We’re out of my milk,” he said loudly, with what he hoped was a natural-looking shrug. “How ‘bout I’ll read the chapter while you have yours, then you can quiz me.”

“Wait, I’m sorry. What’s _ ‘your milk’ _?”

“Oh.” He gave his hair a vigorous rub. “Soy or oat milk, usually.”

“He’s vegan,” Remus explained. “His uncle took him deer hunting once as a lad and traumatized him for life.”

“How about you look into a stag’s big, brown, eyes and then tell me you’d be able to eat him!” James exclaimed. “Besides, it’s not just that, you prat. You know my mum’s a vegetarian. I guess it rubbed off on me.”

“But vegan, though?” Lily asked. “We ate cheese and crackers earlier.”

“They make vegan cheese you know, Evans.”

“I know, but I didn’t know it could taste like real cheese!” she said defensively. She shook her head with an impressed look on her face. “Is that how you stay so fit, then? No meat, no dairy, tons of football?”

James’ lips tilted in a satisfied smirk. “You think I’m fit?”

Lily turned pink, but she rolled her eyes. “Oh whatever, you know you’re in good shape. You must run like five miles a day with the football team.”

“_ I _ know, but I guess I’m just surprised _ you _ noticed,” James said, waggling his eyebrows.

She looked away, but not before James saw her smile. “Well, I’m not blind.”

“You’ve got that on Jamesie, then,” Sirius said brightly, re-inserting himself in the conversation. “He can’t see a lick without his glasses. Now, come sit.” He flopped on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. “I want to know all about the infamous Chem Girl.”

James covered his face with both hands as Lily turned to look at him, her eyebrows rising up her forehead.

“Seriously? What did you tell your friends about me?”

“Nothing!” he yelped. “Just what Remus told you before.”

“Right, it was nothing, nothing,” Sirius said soothingly. He patted the sofa again. “Just that you’re ace at chemistry and friends with that greasy wanker.”

Lily actually growled. “You’ve _ got _ to stop telling people I’m friends with Snape!”

“Oh, you aren’t, then?” Sirius asked. “That’s excellent. So tell me what I _ should _ know about you. Better to hear it straight from the source, anyway.”

“Sirius, she’s not on a fucking job interview,” James said.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, and James knew what he was thinking. _ Isn’t she, mate? _ He shook his head.

But to his surprise, Lily cautiously sat down next to Sirius. “I don’t know, what do you want to know?” she asked.

“Oh, I dunno, Red. Let’s start simple. Why on earth are you in this chem class with James?”

“Well, it’s my major!” Lily said. “If anything, you should be asking him why he’s in it, he’s studying—” she blinked and turned to James with a puzzled expression “—what _ are _ you studying?”

“Erm…creative writing,” James said sheepishly.

“Creative writing! Creative writing?” Lily shrieked. She cleared her throat. “Then why the fuck are you in a second-year chemistry course?”

“It’s a long story.”

One he didn’t want to share. Lily looked at him expectantly, but he just dragged a hand through his hair and sighed.

Sirius filled the awkward silence for him. "And what about Sneep the Creep? Your lab partner," he clarified, when Lily looked at him quizzically. "What's his major?"

"Oh, I dunno." Lily shrugged. "Being a prick?"

The boys burst into laughter, Sirius' bark-like cackle loudest of them all. “You're funny," he declared. "You should come around more often. Also, and in case you were wondering: I’m studying Classical Archeology.”

“You are?” Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I am,” Sirius said. He grinned. “Great excuse to look at all those nude Greek statues.”

“Cocoa’s ready!” Peter announced, coming back into the living room with a tray bearing four mugs of steaming hot chocolate.

“Excellent! Peter, Remus, might I interest you lads in a few rounds of _ Call of Duty _?”

“Oi!” James exclaimed. “I’m supposed to be revising chemistry!”

“That’s why I’ve asked Pete and Moony, and not you,” Sirius said.

“But you know I want to play if you are!”

“You could always go study in your bedroom if we’re distracting you,” Remus said, a little too innocently.

“We’re fine out here,” Lily said quickly. She narrowed her eyes and smiled at James over the rim of her mug. “You can play with your friends, and I’ll just put in my headphones while I read this chapter, all right?”

"No, not all right. We're supposed to be working together, Evans."

"But it seems like I'm the only one interested in working."

“Hold on, hold on!” Remus waved his hands. "I've got a better idea."

And so it was that Chem or Dare was born. The rules were simple: instead of answering truthfully a question about themselves, those who wanted to study chemistry would answer review questions correctly. If they got it wrong, they had to take a drink. Anyone uninterested in chemistry would perform dares chosen by the rest of the group or take a shot to skip their turn.

“Perfect!” Sirius exclaimed. “This way, James and Lily can study, and the rest of us can get sloshed.”

“You’re a genius, Moony,” James agreed, as the boys cleared away the empty cocoa mugs and brought out a bottle of whiskey and a couple of bottles of beer.

Lily sighed. “We’ll try this, but if I don’t feel like I’m learning the chapter, I get to put my headphones on and read, all right?”

“All right,” James agreed. “Pass me the book, I’ll ask you first. I assume you want a review question, not a dare.” She frowned at him, and he grinned. “Right. Define ‘isotope.’”

“That’s easy,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “Variants of the same element that contain the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons."

"Right," James said.

"I know it is," Lily sniffed, but she sounded kind of proud. "So, now I ask you, I guess? You want a chem question, or a dare?”

“Dare! Dare! Dare! Dare!” Peter and Sirius chanted.

James’ lips twitched. “Chem, I guess,” he said with a sigh.

“Booo!!”

“Draw a Lewis diagram for boron trichloride.”

“Oh, taking it to the next level, are we? That’s alright, I'm dead skilled at these,” James said, grabbing Lily's notepad and turning to a blank page. He crossed his ankle over his knee, set the paper on his leg, and began to sketch a three-dimensional image of the molecular compound.

He could feel Lily's eyes on him as he worked, and he fought the urge to reach up and ruffle his hair, putting all his focus into his drawing instead. His hand moved across the paper with quick, light strokes as he sketched the different elements, then heavier strokes to define the bonds between them. He finished quickly and shoved the paper in her direction with a smile. "Done."

Her eyes went wide and she bit her lip as she studied his work. "That's...lovely," she said. "Mine always look like they were done by an angry toddler."

James' felt his face heat at the compliment. He shrugged. "It's no big deal, I just like to draw."

"Hmm. A man of many talents, are you?"

He raised his eyebrows, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. "Just football and flirting, I've heard."

Lily snorted. "The flirting skills remain unproven."

“We’ll see about that.”

“This is boring!" Sirius interrupted loudly. “We need some dares. James, you have to ask someone other than Lily this time.”

James rolled his eyes. “All right, Sirius. Chem or dare?”

“Dare, obviously!”

“Of course." James thought for a moment. "Leave the flat shirtless and knock on every door until you find someone to give you a t-shirt. Don’t come back ‘til you've got one.”

“Piece of cake!” Sirius crowed. He poured a shot of whiskey and threw it back, then winked at Lily. “If all his dares are going to be that simple, I’ll never get to have a drink. Might as well start now.” Then he stood and stripped off his shirt.

Lily’s eyes widened, and James suddenly wished he _ hadn’t _given Sirius a reason to disrobe in front of her. She looked away quickly, and her hands seemed to latch on to the first thing she saw – a beer bottle. With a sort of forced casualness, she popped the cap and took a sip, her eyes looking everywhere but Sirius' bare chest. 

“That’s the spirit, Red! Revising needn’t be boring, nor entirely sober.” Sirius gave her a thumbs-up, then dropped to the floor and did ten push-ups to get the blood flowing to his upper arms before sauntering to the front door of the apartment. “Wish me luck.”

“As if he’ll need it,” Remus muttered, cracking open a beer of his own.

Sure enough, Sirius returned six minutes later in a tight, baby blue t-shirt with the word “Lover” scrawled across the chest in pink cursive.

“Oh my god!” Lily said, giggling. “How did you get that so quickly?”

“I told you it’d be easy.” His raised his eyebrows gave Peter an evil smile. “Dorcas says hello.”

Peter gasped. “You’re a menace,” he said. “Is that hers? Can I keep it?”

Sirius burst into laughter. “‘Course it’s not hers, and don’t be such a creep! I didn’t go to their apartment at all. This shirt belongs to a lovely bloke named Jeremy in two-C.” He grinned. “We may just have to meet up so I can return it to him sometime.”

“You are shameless,” Remus said, shaking his head.

“You know it,” Sirius said with an easy shrug. He poured himself some more whiskey. “Your turn, Re. Chem or dare?"

Remus sighed. "Dare, I suppose. I know nothing about chemistry.”

“Aces," Sirius said. His grin turned even more wicked. “You know what I’m going to say, Moony."

The other boys groaned. “Not again!”

“It’s his nickname, isn’t it? Now, bum to the window, or take a shot.”

Remus blushed beet red. “Can I do it in the bedroom?”

“That window faces an alley! You’ve got to use one of the windows out here, facing the garden.”

“I can’t do this while Lily’s here,” he complained. "Choose something else."

“A dare’s a dare, Remus,” James said. “You do it, or you drink.”

“Indeed,” Sirius said. He gestured at the shot glasses on the table. “Your whiskey awaits.”

Remus sighed, but he took the whiskey shot without further complaint. Then he turned to Peter.

“Pete - chem or dare?”

“Dare!’

“Right-o,” Remus said. Then he frowned. “Is something burning?”

James sniffed the air and grimaced. “Definitely burning.” 

Sirius laughed, and Lily looked mildly alarmed. Peter jumped to his feet. “Shite! My biscuits!” he wailed, and ran off to the kitchen.

“Poor Dorcas,” Sirius said, still chuckling.

“Poor _ me _,” Remus said. “I really wanted those biscuits. Well, Lily I guess I’m asking you. Chem or dare?”

She looked like she sort of wanted to say dare. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on James part.

“Chem, of course.”

“Fine.” Remus skimmed the review questions, then grinned. “This looks appropriate. What’s an ionic compound?”

“I know this,” Lily said confidently. “An ion with a negative charge attracts an ion with a positive charge and the two form a chemical bond.”

“So, opposites attract, and then they bond?” Remus asked, and James noticed that too-innocent expression on his face again.

His friends were definitely doing the opposite of playing it cool.

Lily didn’t miss a beat. "Exactly," she said, baring her teeth at Remus. "It explains how a sweetheart like Peter ended up with you lot for flatmates."

"Ouch!” Remus said, pressing a hand to his chest.

Sirius cackled. "So sassy!” he exclaimed. He gave James a shrewd look. “I really like her.”

_ Me too, _ James thought. _ Me fucking too. _


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Part 2!

“So this is where I decide that I like her,” Sirius says, taking another sip of his drink. “I mean, she’s cheeky, she’s decided to pick on me instead of Pete and she’s agreed to get sloshed.” He frowned and looked at Mary. “Or perhaps she hadn’t agreed just yet. But she’s definitely getting to that point.”

“I think I’ve had two sips of beer by this point.” 

Mary spins around, hand on her hip, “Are you telling the story? Or are Sirius, myself, and my slideshow telling the story?”

“Yes, please keep all questions until the end. There will be a Q & A.” Sirius hasn’t bothered to look at the bride or the groom, he’s too entranced in the performance that he was putting on. 

“Next slide,” Mary points her clicker at the projector again and a new slide appears. It’s a snapchat photo she clearly had screenshotted of Lily sitting in the boys old flat bathroom with a bottle of James’ shampoo opened and under her nose. ‘_ WHY DOES HE SMELL SO DAMN GOOD?!?!’ _was written across the photo. Sirius, who has not seen this picture before, lets out an abrasive bark of laughter. “I’m sure you’re all curious to find out how Lily became stalker-adjacent. So let the story telling continue.” 

“Yes, so Lily has agreed to get drunk, whether or not she knows it yet, and Peter is a fucking light weight. It hasn’t come up in the story yet, but I just want to give you all a fair warning.” He points to Peter, who is seated next to Remus near the stage. “He’s probably drinking root beer right now.” 

“Coke, actually,” Peter nods, smiling as he holds up his cup. 

“Anyway, it was a dark and stormy night still,” Sirius leans over the mic and grips the stand as though building anticipation. 

“More like dark and _ steamy _,” Mary trills. Lily cusses quietly, and the guests all laugh. 

* * *

Peter emerged from the kitchen beaming. 

"You look pleased," Remus noted. "You salvaged the biscuits, then?"

Pete frowned for a moment. “No, they're toast," he said, shaking his head. "But classes are cancelled tomorrow!”

“Really?”

He wiggled his mobile. “Marlene just told me. Check your email.”

Sirius and James pulled out their phones in unison, then James let out a whoop. He turned to Lily with a grin.

“Now will you stop studying, Evans?”

She sighed, because it seemed appropriate to be put-out by his very reasonable request. “Might as well,” she said, shrugging.

To be clear, she didn't sigh dramatically to hide the fact that she found his crooked smile adorable. And she didn’t agree to stop studying because she found the mischief in his eyes enticing.

Really, she didn't.

“But what’ll we do instead? I’m not going to watch you lot play video games all night.”

“We can play a proper drinking game now, eh?”

"Like what?"

“We could play _ actual _Truth or Dare. Or Never Have I Ever!”

Lily let out a laugh that was more of a snort. “I'm not sure I want to do either of those while I'm the only girl here with a bunch of blokes.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. “We could invite Marlene and Dorcas!”

“Isn't Dorcas sick?” Remus reminded him.

“Wouldn't hurt to at least ask if they want to,” he said. “I'll text Marlene.” He tapped out a message on his phone and hit send.

“So thirsty,” Sirius said, shaking his head. Peter gave him the finger.

His phone buzzed a moment later. "_Thanks for the invite, but I can't leave the wife_ _while she's sick. Have fun!_" he read. He looked up at his friends with a frown. "Guess they're not coming.” 

“Bad luck, Pete,” James said.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "‘The wife,’ she said?"

"Oh, that’s just a figure of speech, isn't it?" Peter looked at Lily imploringly. “Girls say that sort of thing to each other all the time, don’t they?”

Lily cringed. "Some might,” she conceded. "Not having met them, I can't really say…"

Remus slapped a hand to his forehead. “It is not a figure of speech, Pete! There is a pride flag on the door of their flat!”

“It could be Marlene’s! Or they could be allies!”

"Look, we'll deal with Pete's raging crush on an unsuspecting lesbian later," Sirius said. "Now, Red, what games _ would _ you feel comfortable playing in a room full of men?"

She paused to think. A tiny part of her did want to play Truth or Dare – ever since Sirius’ striptease she’d been thinking it wouldn’t be the _ worst _ thing if one of the boys dared James to take off _ his _shirt – but she couldn’t risk it. Who knows what dares they’d come up with for her, and she certainly wasn’t about to answer questions about her private life. Better to play something with clear boundaries.

“Fuzzy duck?” she offered. 

“What’s that?” Peter asked.

“We sit in a circle, and take turns saying ‘fuzzy duck,’” Lily explained. “At any point, one person can say ‘does he?’ instead. Then we switch directions, and everyone has to start saying ‘ducky fuzz.’ And you’re supposed to say it quickly, no hesitating. If you mess it up, you drink.”

“I know this one,” James said, looking pleased. “Should be fun.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Pete said. “I’ll play.”

“Piece of cake,” Sirius agreed. “I’m going for a degree in Linguistics, so I’m brilliant with words. I won’t be the one to drop the pattern.”

Lily’s eyebrows scrunched together. “I thought you were studying archaeology?”

“Don’t be silly,” he said, which only confused her more. “Does everyone have something to drink? Let’s play.”

She made herself a whiskey and coke and sat on the floor between Remus and Sirius, with James next to Sirius and Peter next to him. She was sort of glad James wasn’t closer – he’d leaned over to look at her notes, while they were studying, and she’d been suddenly aware that he smelled really, really good. It was a bit distracting. And it wouldn’t do to be distracted during fuzzy duck.

“All right, I’ll start,” she said. “And we’ll go to the left. Fuzzy duck.”

“Fuzzy duck,” Remus repeated.

“Fuzzy duck,” said Pete.

James raised his eyebrows and grinned. “Does he?”

The other three boys looked around guiltily. 

“So...is it me?” Sirius asked.

“No, that sends it back to you, Peter,” Lily said.

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “And what do I say, again?”

“Ducky fuzz.”

“Right! Ducky fuzz!”

“All right, but everyone drink for taking so long,” James declared. He raised his beer bottle in Lily’s direction. “Cheers, Evans. At this rate, these three will be plastered in no time.”

She raised her eyebrows. “But not you, Mr. ‘I think I’m good at everything’?”

He shrugged with obviously false modesty. “You’re the one who said I’m a man of many talents.”

“We’ve identified one talent, Potter. Two if you count drawing molecular diagrams, but—”

“Fuzzy duck!” Sirius suddenly yelled, slamming his personal, plastic-lidded cup on the floor.

“Right! Fuzzy duck,” James said, and the game resumed.

They continued like that for a bit, haltingly, with confusion and false starts and plenty of drinking. But soon, they were spitting out fuzzy ducks and ducky fuzzes in rapid succession, going whole rounds without messing up, then cracking up every time Peter completely forgot what to say and laughing even more when the tongue-twister resulted in accidental swearing.

“All right, thass enough!” Peter cried eventually. He’d finished his beer ages ago and was now sipping whiskey from Sirius’ special cup every time he messed up the game, which was frequently. “Le’ss play somethin’ else.”

“You’re done for, Pete,” Remus said, laughing. “Maybe sit the next one out?”

“Screw you, Remus,” Pete slurred. He appeared to be at risk of falling into James’ lap at any moment. “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are, mate,” Sirius said, standing up. “You just have a quick kip right here—” he dragged Peter by the armpits until his back was against the side of the sofa “—and then you’ll be ready for round three.”

“Do we have a round two?”

“Well, we’ve got an even number now,” Remus noted. “Beer pong?”

“Yes!” Lily exclaimed. She did a little shoulder shimmy and pointed at each of the boys. “Hope you’re ready to lose!”

“Mighty confident there, Evans,” James said, raising his eyebrows and giving her a smug smile.

It was the same look he gave her in class, when he knew something she didn’t or had the chance to correct her. Usually, that look infuriated her.

Right now, it looked kind of…hot. Like he knew all her secrets and wanted to share some of his own.

Well. That wouldn’t do at all.

“You’re not the only one who’s multi-talented, Potter,” she shot back, trying to get back to their comfort zone.

“Hmm. I don’t know that I’ve seen any of your talents, yet,” he said, still with that lazy smirk. “Whereas you’ve already identified three of mine – football, drawing, and flirting.”

“I’m a better flirt than you are, by far,” Lily said, before she could stop herself. She was glad to see he looked surprised. And intrigued. Not that she wanted him to be intrigued with _ her _, specifically, but it was nice to know she could keep him on his toes. She lifted her chin. “And I’m a whiz at drinking games, just watch.”

“Brilliant!” Sirius said. He gestured to himself and Lily and then at James and Remus. “Me and Lily against you and Moony, all right?” He began organizing plastic cups in a pyramid formation at one end of Pete’s door.

“Not a chance,” Remus said, shaking his head. “If she’s half as good as she says she is, you two will wipe the floor with us.”

“Oi! I’m good at beer pong,” James said, frowning.

Remus gave him a skeptical look. “Have you ever beaten him?” he asked, pointing at Sirius, who was now creating a pyramid on the other end of the table. He shook his head and answered his own question. “No. Your aim is inconsistent at best. And for someone so woefully lacking in subtlety, Sirius has a surprising amount of finesse.”

“That near-compliment has earned you the privilege of my teammate-ship,” Sirius announced, coming to stand next to Remus. He slung an arm around Remus’ shoulder and raised his eyebrows at James. “Red, you’re stuck with Jamesie.”

“That seems to be the theme of the night, doesn’t it?” Lily said, in what she thought was a playful tone.

Something like hurt flickered in James’ eyes, but it passed quickly. Still, the smile he gave her wasn’t the cocky smirk she was used to. “Geez, Evans. You make it sound like a hostage situation.”

“No, I didn’t mean it as a bad thing!” she said quickly. For some reason, the idea that she might have hurt his feelings really bothered her. “I just meant - literally, with the snowstorm, you know? But I don’t feel like a _ hostage _. We’re having fun! You said yourself we make a great team, remember?”

His smile morphed into the one she liked. Liked to hate. Whatever. She smiled back.

“That’s true,” he said. He ruffled his hair. “All right, let’s do this.”

“Oh good, he’s done whinging.” Sirius stage-whispered to Remus. 

Remus sighed, “Yeah, it’s hard to watch sometimes, isn’t it?”

“Fuck off.” James muttered, tossing one of the cups at them. 

Sirius fished two ping-pong balls out of a bucket sitting on the bookshelf, then ran to the kitchen to rinse them before they started the game. When he returned, he took the first throw.

As Remus had predicted, Sirius sank his shot with ease. “Drink!” he crowed.

“Ladies first?” James said, grinning at Lily.

“Fine,” she said, with a fake pout. She quickly pulled her lip back in and tried to smirk, instead. Pouting was too much like flirting. And despite what she’d said before, she definitely was _ not _ flirting.

She picked up the cup, fished the ball out, and chugged the beer. 

Sirius whooped and James and Remus looked impressed. Lily felt her face flush. “What’re you staring at? Your turn, Remus.”

“I think I’m definitely glad I didn’t let you two team up,” Remus said, shaking his head. He took his throw and missed. James took a turn and missed as well.

“My turn!” Lily sang. She tossed the ball across the table and it landed neatly in one of the cups. Remus removed the ball and raised a toast to her before he downed the contents.

All four players made their shots in the next round, and James, Sirius, and Lily made theirs in the round after that. By then, they’d each had to drink multiple beers, in addition to whatever they’d had earlier in the night, and their throws started to get a little wilder as the game went on. James was better than Remus, but not by much. He managed to launch the ball into the bookshelf behind Remus and Sirius at least twice, while Remus’ ball kept ending up on the floor, and once it bounced off Pete’s forehead.

“Watch it,” Pete mumbled, after that one. “I get to play next round, I can’t be any worse hammered than you are sober.”

“I’on think anyone’s sober anymore, Pete,” Sirius said, as Lily sank another shot and Remus drank yet another beer. “But I agree you can’t be worse than Moony.”

“Fuck off,” Remus said, tossing the empty cup on the floor. “S’not my fault. It actually doesn’t make sense how good you are at this.”

“Well, I’m studying physics with a concentration in aerodynamics,” Sirius said, shrugging. He tossed another ball and it landed in one of the four remaining cups in front of Lily and James. “It’s all about the mass of the ball, the force behind it, the flight trajectory, that sort of thing.”

James scoffed, and Lily burst out laughing. "What, you don't believe him?" she demanded through her giggles. "The man is a master physics-ish!"

"A what now?"

"Phys—phys-i-cist," she said more slowly. Maybe Sirius was right about their dubious sobriety. She glared at James. "Quiet, you."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were thinking, though."

"Okay, you tiny madwoman." James shook his head. "And what’s your excuse, are you a physicsish too?”

“Physicist! I'm a chemist. And you're a writer." She poked his upper arm. It felt nice and firm under her finger. She blinked. "Excuse for what?"

His lips tilted in that crooked grin she hated to like (_ Or something. Whatever _). She turned away before she did anything foolish.

"How are you so good at beer pong?" he asked, clearly amused.

“Oh.” Lily shrugged. “There’s nothing to do in my hometown. I've been playing this game since I was fifteen.”

James looked pleasantly surprised. “Wouldn’t have taken you for a party girl, Evans.”

“I wouldn’t say all that,” Lily said. She grinned and bumped him with her hip. “But just because I work hard in class doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun, Potter. Now, focus.” She reached up and grabbed his chin, then turned his face away from her and back towards the game table. “It’s your turn.”

His eyes flicked back to hers for a moment. “Right,” he said, reaching up to muss his hair. He turned and stared out over the table as if lost in a daydream, rolling the ball absently between his fingers.

There were only two cups left in front of Sirius and Remus, one in front of the other. “This is where it gets hard, Jamesie,” Sirius taunted from across the table. “If you miss this, we’ll have a chance to catch up.”

His friend’s jeers seemed to break James out of his trance. “Shove it,” he muttered, finally focusing on the two remaining targets. “You’re only talking shit because you know you’re about to lose.” He took a deep breath, licked his lips, and kissed the ball for good luck. Then he tossed it gently in the air and watched it sail into the cup at the far edge of the table.

“Yes! You did it!” Lily cried, clutching James’ arm excitedly. He beamed down at her and wrapped his hand around hers, squeezing back. She felt her face go warm, and she pulled away.

James didn’t seem to notice anything awkward. “All right, Evans, this is it,” he said, nodding encouragingly. “No pressure, but you make this shot and we win it all.”

Lily snorted. “Right, no pressure,” she said, but she smiled. She wasn’t worried. She’d only missed a cup once during the entire game, and she knew she had just the right touch to make this final shot.

Just to be cheeky, she winked at Sirius right before she released the ball. He stuck his tongue out at her, but there was nothing he could do to stop her perfect throw. As soon as it landed in the cup, James let out a victorious cheer. Lily felt strong arms wrap around her waist from behind and lift her off her feet, and suddenly she was spinning.

“Eep!” she shrieked, giggling. “Put me down!”

He did as she asked, laughing all the while. “Lily, that was brilliant!” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face him. “Fucking brilliant! No one ever beats Sirius!”

He pulled her into a hug again and she felt giddy as she slipped her arms around his waist. As soon as she hugged him back, he squeezed her tighter, lifting her off her feet again and swinging her from side to side.

She didn’t mind. In fact, she barely even noticed. There was only one thought in her head:

_ He called me Lily _.

And then her swinging feet hit the edge of their DIY coffee table, levering one end in the air.

“Oh, shit!” Sirius said, jumping out of the way and nearly tripping over Pete.

“Watch out!” Remus cried, but it was too late. The door teetered off its milk crates, sending the last cups of beer flying before the whole thing crashed to the floor, taking Lily and James with it.

By some miracle, James turned them so that he hit the floor first, and Lily fell mostly on top of him. He even managed to reach out a hand to keep the door from smacking her in the back of the head as it landed on them.

What he could not do, however, was stop the cups of beer that the door had launched at them like projectiles. And because Lily’s body was now covering most of James’ torso, all the beer landed on her.

She pushed herself to her feet, giggling as she inspected her clothes. “Well, that’s the first time I’ve had the table fall on me after winning beer pong.” 

James jumped back to his feet and his hand went to his hair. “Fuck, I’m so sorry.” This was clearly his fault, but Lily wasn’t mad about it. Maybe it was the alcohol, or his ridiculously cute guilty face – it reminded her of a dog that had just been caught tearing apart their owner’s dinner.

“It’s fine.” Lily shook her head and swiped her hand against the wet spots on her shirt and pants, as though that was going to dry her off. “I’ll just go and clean up in the loo,” She said, still smiling. “This does not detract from our victory at all.” She pointed at both Remus and Sirius for emphasis. 

“No, you need new clothes.” James let his hand fall to his side. “I’ll give you something to borrow.” His ears turned red as he said it. 

“Do you have any t-shirts like Sirius’?” she asked. Sirius flexed in his _ Lover _shirt and Lily laughed again. 

“I do not, but you can have your pick of whatever is in my room.” 

“It’s the least you can offer her,” Sirius interjected. 

“Yes, you did throw a door on her.” Remus crossed his arms over his chest.

“I did not!” James threw his hands in the air, and Lily bit the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling. “I _ accidentally _knocked the door on top of both of us! I didn’t throw anything at her.”

“James, she’s covered in beer.” Remus sighed and shook his head. “And it’s entirely your fault.” 

James looked ready to blow, and the laugh Lily had been holding in slipped out. “I’m going to go and change, you two continue to give him shit for me, yeah?” She grinned, and Sirius saluted her before she turned and left the room.

* * *

James watched absently as Lily jogged from the room like she owned the place and didn’t manage to jar himself from some in depth but G-rated thoughts about her bum until SIrius shoved him. “Having a good time, Jamesie?”

“Shove it.”

“I’m just saying - ”

“I don’t want to hear what the uni student who needs a sippy cup has to say about my life,” James grumbled as he reached forward to pinch Sirius’ chest.

“Oi! My nipple!”

Remus snickered. “You’ve always had a freakish nipple-radar, James.”

With a scowl, James rose from his place on the sofa and brushed stray bits of popcorn and whatever else from his trousers. “I’m going to go make sure _ our guest _is properly taken care of.”

Peter snorted from his place on the floor - he really _ is _a lightweight. “Jamesie’s just worried he left out his dirty pants.”

“Shit.”

James gave Peter a little kick to his ribs for good measure and followed in Lily’s footsteps toward the bedrooms. He slowed to catch his breath and hopefully lower his heart rate to a safe level before his eyes caught on his half open door. “Lily, I—”

She turned abruptly, hand pressed to the neon fabric banded across her chest. And James knew it shouldn’t be that big of a deal - she was wearing more than she’d have on at the beach, probably pretty equal to a workout get up. Yet, he couldn’t stop staring, and blushing, and feeling like a complete dunce.

So of course, he decided to turn on the ‘charm’ - or perhaps, to the less generous, become an obnoxious little arsehole. “Nice get up, Evans. I s’pose one way to prevent a peeping tom is bra-induced blindness.”

“I don't need my bra for that. Take off your glasses and you can’t see your own stupid nerdy whale shirt.”

And then she grinned at him, wearing a lot less than she should be, and _ clearly _ trying to rile him up. It was a lot of information to process after ten at night whilst tipsy during a blizzard this late in the semester. Still, he couldn’t really help the correction that rose on his lips. “It’s actually a _ dolphin _.”

To drive the point home, he gestured to his chest in a wide circle, then pointed at where he’s fairly certain it reads ‘Hi, I’m a dolphin.’

Lily’s gaze lingered for a moment and he realized how odd he must have looked, drawing increasingly small circles around his pectoral region while discussing his stupid (brilliant) orca t-shirt. Absently, it occurred to him he _ did _have a weird nipple thing, but he brushed it aside as Lily seemed to regain her focus.

“First, who’s the science major here? And second, please don’t touch your nipples while you talk to me.”

“So long as we’re making requests, maybe don’t talk to me topless,” James fired back, only realizing how little of a problem he had with LIly’s current state of dress when she tossed her soiled shirt in his face and began rummaging through his clean laundry pile.

It was pretty beautifully folded, if he did say so himself. One of the few grown-up musts James adopted into his routine was the regular use of fabric softener. Sirius teased him, but Sirius also paid to watch Hallmark films on the regular and still claimed he’s punk through and through so James figured there’s really no superiority there.

While he considered this, Lily managed to work her way through the stack and settle on something she liked, and James couldn’t seem to do much but ruffle his hair as she tugged what looked like his football jersey over her head.

He cleared his throat. “Do you uh – need some,” James crossed the room and tugged open his chest of drawers, “bottoms? I know you’re like four feet tall but—”

Lavender and vanilla wafted toward him and he began to think perhaps she’d taken the opportunity to finally end things with a well-executed strangle hold in his own bedroom, but she just let out a low growl. “Excuse me, I am of perfectly average height.”

James settled on a pair of his older track pants and tossed them in her face. “There’s nothing average about you Evans – including your tiny, angry little body.”

Lily pressed her lips together and scrunched up her face. “I’m _ average height _.” She repeated. James tried to keep a straight face, but it didn’t work. It didn’t take long for her to join him, though it was clear that she was trying not to. She rolled her eyes and waved her hand in his direction as she started walking toward the door. “Oh, you’re a prat is what you are. I’m going to the loo to change.” 

“Don’t forget to close the door this time!” he called after her. 

This earned him the bird, which only made him laugh again. 

* * *

**Lily Evans to Mary the Snail:** _ i have a problem _

Mary Macdonald to Lilith:_ oh no _

Mary Macdonald:_ okay so having unprotected sex isn’t the end of the world _

Mary Macdonald:_ we can find you some plan b tomorrow _

Lily Evans:_ MARY LITERALLY WTF NO _

Mary Macdonald:_ oh thank god. im not ready to be a godmother _

Lily Evans:_ i was just going to tell you that James smells like….. so amazing and rn i may or may not be sitting in his loo sniffing his shampoo like a fucking serial killer _

Lily Evans:_ WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME _

Mary Macdonald:_ haha you liiiiiiike him _

Mary Macdonald:_ and did you just call him james??? _

Lily Evans:_ um _

Lily Evans:_ oh noooo you’re breaking up i’m going through a tunnel _

Mary Macdonald:_ thats complete shite and you know it _

Mary Macdonald:_ but because ily ill let you get back to your freakish shampoo sniffing and save the interrogation for tomorrow _

Lily Evans:_ ilysm you’re the best_

* * *

Lily decided to take one last whiff of his shampoo before she headed out of the bathroom, hoping that it would prevent her from going full psycho out in the living room and sniffing his hair in front of everyone.

But as she held the bottle up to her nose, she watched in horror as the doorknob turned and the door opened. She realized that she had forgotten to lock the door after James had closed it.

Remus appeared in the doorway and locked eyes with Lily who was sitting on the edge of the bathtub with a bottle of shampoo mere centimeters below her nose.

“Er….” Lily stammered.

“Nope!” Remus exclaimed, throwing his hands up. He closed the door again, leaving Lily to her likely fatal embarrassment.

* * *

**Remus Lupin to Siriusly Undecided:** _ Just walked in on Lily sniffing James’s shampoo. _

Sirius Black to Moons with Wolves:_ i watched james lean in and take a deep inhale of evans’s hair like 10 minutes ago _

Remus Lupin:_ They’re… weirdly perfect together. _

***

**Remus Lupin to Cupcake Master:** _ Stop freaking out about Lily. I promise you’ll be fine. _

James Potter to Remputation:_ DID SHE SAY SOMETHING _

Remus Lupin:_ This is the most I’m getting involved. Now pay attention to Sirius’s story. _

James Potter:_ but i dont speak russian??_

* * *

The spilled beer had been wiped up, the cups cleared, and the door repositioned on its milk crates when Lily returned to the living room. She pointedly did not make eye contact with Remus as she turned to smile at the rest of the boys.

“All right,” she said, clapping her hands once, “What’s next?”

“Surely you don’t want to drink more,” Remus said, raising an eyebrow.

Lily couldn’t tell whether that statement was an indictment of her bathroom behavior or just general commentary on their collective state this evening. She chose to take it as the latter. “No, I think we’ve had plenty. But we can’t go to bed at—” she glanced at her phone “—half ten when we’ve been gifted a free day from classes, can we?” She turned to Sirius with her hands on her hips. “What happened to the entertainment you promised before? And where’s Pete?”

“Who knows with that one. As for entertainment, I think we can agree it’s time for something low-key.”

James had been reclining on the couch, but he sat up suddenly and narrowed his eyes. “Who are you, and what have you done with Sirius Black?”

“I’m right here,” Sirius said, dragging his hands up and down his body in what Lily imagined was supposed to be a sensual manner. “In the flesh. But look, we’ve already had an epic evening, despite your early efforts to kill the vibe. Now, we Netflix n’ chill.”

Remus snorted. “That wasn’t as sexy as you think it was. And no one says ‘Netflix n’ chill’ anymore.”

“I say it, and it’s punk.”

“About as punk as your collection of Hallmark movies,” James said, settling back into the sofa. Lily giggled.

Sirius hmphed and stuck his nose in the air. “I’ll have you know, those are for my film degree.”

Lily laughed some more. “You’re a film major, now?”

“Yes! Fine arts with a concentration in classic romantic cinema, to be specific. Try to keep up.”

“There’s no way that’s a major,” she said, shaking her head. “But which of these classic movies are you suggesting we watch tonight?”

“Well, unfortunately, most of my collection is at home. And since _ someone _ changed the wi-fi password and then _ forgot it _—” he raised his voice for this bit, but Peter, wherever he may have been, didn't respond “—we won’t be able to use Netflix. We’ll have to see what’s on demand.”

“I’ll look for something,” James said. “You can’t be trusted.”

“Excuse me, we’ve just established that I am _ majoring _ in film! I’m the only expert here!”

“How about we let our guest pick?” Remus said, raising an eyebrow at James, then Sirius. “Sirius, come help me get some snacks.”

“Fine,” Sirius said, pouting. He pointed a stern finger at Lily. “I’m trusting you, Red. Don’t let me down.”

She saluted him, as he’d done to her when she’d ordered him to give James a hard time for her. He barked out a laugh, then winked and followed Remus into the kitchen.

As soon as they left, James’ hand jumped to his hair. “Looks like you’ve been put in charge,” he said, one side of his mouth ticked up in a grin.

“As it should be,” Lily said primly, but she couldn’t keep the smile off his face as she walked over to sit next to James on the couch. “Clicker, please.”

He handed it to her, and she pressed the large “On Demand” button in the center. She selected Dramas from the genre list and began to scroll through the titles.

“Hmm, I expected you to go for a romantic comedy, Evans,” James said. She turned to him with a scowl, but he was looking at her so fondly that she couldn’t hold her annoyed expression. He rubbed his hair again, and she got another whiff of that warm, masculine scent she was quickly becoming obsessed with.

The room suddenly seemed very hot. Or maybe it was just her face. Was she melting? She might’ve been melting. She needed to say something cold, or at least dry, before she turned into a sticky puddle of goo. 

All she came up with was, “I’d have thought tonight showed you I’m not that predictable, Potter.”

Pitiful. His lovely scent and cute smile were dulling her wits.

The cute smile grew. “Indeed it has,” he said, nodding. “So what unpredictable film are we going to watch?”

Remus and Sirius returned to the living room with a bowl of popcorn, some suspiciously dark chocolate biscuits, and four mugs of tea just as Lily found the perfect movie selection. “Yes!” she said, her eyes lighting up. She highlighted the title and turned to James with a satisfied smile. “_ Pride and Prejudice _ . Drama _ and _ romance.”

“A girl after my own heart!” Sirius exclaimed, clutching his chest as if the words required demonstration. “If it doesn’t work out with James, will you still come hang out with me, please? You’ve such better taste in movies than he does.”

“There’s nothing to work out, I mean--we’re friends,” Lily said quickly. She tried to make her voice light. “So, you know. I’m sure I’ll be back. If only to beat you in beer pong.”

“Oh, we’re friends now, are we?” James looked pleased. “Five hours ago you hated my guts.”

She nudged him with her shoulder and smiled. “Well five hours ago, you were an insufferable git who took the last chemistry book.”

“Touché,” he said, grinning. “Shall we start the movie?”

“Let’s get the snacks sorted first! How do you take your tea, Lily?” Remus asked, gesturing to the four mugs on the door-table.

“Splash of milk, one sugar,” James said. He immediately sucked a breath between his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, like he wished he could disappear.

Lily blinked. “You know how I take my tea?”

“Well, you know,” James said. He ruffled his hair. “I ran into you at that cafe by the library last week.”

“When I told you off for adding iodine to Snape’s ammonia solution in lab?”

“Yeah.” James grinned sheepishly. “It was funny! I knew it wouldn’t explode, it just makes a loud sound!”

“So loud it nearly scared him out of his pants!” Lily said. “And me, too. But wait.” She cocked her head and looked at him. “You’re telling me that in between my yelling at you about labs, you noticed my tea order?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” He gave an awkward shrug. “Not a complicated order, is it? And I’ve got a good memory.”

“Hmm,” Lily said, pursing her lips. She let out a small snort and shook her head. “Maybe you _ are _ a man of many talents, after all.”

James’ signature smirk was back. “I knew it would sink in eventually.” 

“All right then, splash of milk, one sugar for you,” Remus said, handing her a mug. He handed one to James, as well. “And three sugars for you.”

“Philistine,” Lily muttered.

“Now, can we watch the movie?” Sirius whined from his position on the large bean bag cushion in the corner. “These are precious minutes we could be spending with Mr. Darcy.”

“Cheers,” Lily said, raising her mug in his direction. She pressed play and leaned back against the couch, cupping her tea in both hands. She noticed James watching her out of the corner of her eye, but she kept her eyes focused on the screen.

Remus was seated on a camp chair, munching on burnt chocolate biscuits. James grabbed the bowl of popcorn and placed it in his lap, and Lily tried to relax. There was no need to be so very _ aware _ of him, right? He was just there, on the other end of the couch, watching her watch her favorite movie. No big deal.

Because it _ was _ her favorite movie, she actually did stop paying attention to James pretty quickly. She smiled and Sirius squealed right along with the Bennett girls as they learned of Mr. Bingley’s visit and prepared for the ball. She sighed happily when Bingley awkwardly flirted with Jane, and covered her face with her hands when Darcy so rudely insulted Elizabeth. It was only when she reached for some popcorn and her hand landed on James’ thigh that she remembered he was right there, a mere couch cushion away, in the dark.

“Oops! Sorry!” she squeaked. He raised his eyebrows and held the bowl out to her, and she reached in and grabbed a few kernels.

“You can come closer, you know,” he said. “It’ll be easier to reach the popcorn. And I promise I won’t bite.”

Subconsciously, she licked her lips, and watched James’ eyes widen in response. And then, because she was feeling bold, she whispered, “Even if I ask you nicely?”

Remus coughed loudly, and Lily felt her face flush. James chuckled, his mouth curving up in a hungry smile. “You are right about one thing, Lily Evans,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re not predictable at all.”

She grinned, and he wiggled the popcorn bowl slightly, reminding her of his invitation to come closer. She scooted over to the middle of the couch and tucked her feet up in the spot where she had been sitting a moment ago. The position pressed her right side completely against James’ firm torso. He shifted and put one arm across the back of the couch, just inches above her shoulders. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for just a second.

She could definitely smell his hair. She tilted her face up towards him and tried not to make it obvious that she was practically basking in his scent. He smiled down at her like he knew.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, sitting up a little straighter and taking the popcorn from him.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered back, and her face went hot again.

She barely noticed, as the movie went on, that she was leaning more and more towards James, or that his arm had dropped from the back of the couch to rest comfortably around her shoulders. She certainly didn’t notice her head droop to his shoulder, or his head come to rest on top of hers. And then her eyes drifted closed, and she truly didn’t notice anything at all.

Some indeterminate amount of time later, Lily felt something gently brush her hair back from her cheek and tuck it behind her ear. She sat up carefully and blinked at James, and he slowly lowered his hand from her face. He twisted his head from side to side, popping his neck, then shrugged and gave her a small smile.

“You’re sleeping,” he accused, but his tone was gentle.

She smiled back and scooted back down so that her head once again rested on his shoulder. “And you weren’t?”

“Uh-uh,” he said, unsuccessfully stifling a yawn. “But if you’re going to sleep, you might as well get in the bed. Otherwise you’re going to wake up with a stiff neck.”

She tilted her head to stare up at him, and saw his Adam’s apple shift when he swallowed.

“All right. Let’s go to bed,” she said softly. “Have you got a toothbrush I can use?”

* * *

**James Potter to Pete Sucks:** _ okay nbd but lily is sleeping in my room tonight _

Sirius Black:_ “sleeping” _

James Potter:_ yes sleeping!!! i dont want her to have to sleep on the couch. we all know its dead uncomfortable _

Remus Lupin:_ Also you can hear Peter’s snoring way too loudly out there. _

James Potter:_ exactly!! im just being a good host _

Sirius Black:_ tbt to when you said this girl was like your enemy or something _

Sirius Black:_ and now here you are…. sharing your bedroom with her…. the most intimate of all rooms _

James Potter:_ shove it _

Sirius Black:_ no no i seem to recall you saying something along the lines of “i mean yes shes super hot but the world would have to end for me to ever really like her” _

James Potter:_ I WAS PISSED OFF ON ONE DAY CAN WE LET IT GO _

Sirius Black:_ that must make this the apocalypse! _

Sirius Black:_ a LILYpocalypse if you will _

James Potter:_ i will not _

Sirius Black:_ no youre right thats too on the nose _

Sirius Black:_ a flowerpocalypse? _

James Potter:_ no _

Sirius Black:_ ooh ooh perhaps a petalpocalypse?? _

Sirius Black:_ because like lilies have petals. and also theres that move in pokemon called petal blizzard and she is trapped here because of a blizzard!!! _

James Potter:_ NO _

Sirius Black:_ god i am a genius _

**Sirius Black changed the group name to Petalpocalypse 2019**

Remus Lupin:_ Sirius. Leave James alone. _

Sirius Black:_ okay dad _

**Sirius Black changed the group name to Pete Sucks**

Sirius Black:_ because he still knows what he did _

Sirius Black:_ remus i could hear you slap your forehead from my room _

Sirius Black:_ honestly? Impressive. _

Remus Lupin:_ Go to bed, Sirius. _

***

**Lily Evans to Mary the Snail:** _ SOS I THINK I HAVE CAUGHT FEELINGS _

Lily Evans:_ I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOO _

Mary Macdonald to Lilith:_ lol _

Mary Macdonald:_ this is so romcom-y im living for it _

Mary Macdonald:_ and just take all your clothes off. no man is too thick to understand that message _

Lily Evans:_ ffs mary _

Lily Evans:_ you are no help _

Lily Evans:_ i need to go. i’ve been in the loo brushing my teeth but i don’t want to take too long or else he’ll think i was pooping _

Mary Macdonald:_ good call. best of luck! remember my advice!_

* * *

He had been falling asleep when they were practically on top of one another out on the couch, but now that they were standing in his bedroom, at the foot of his bed, he had never been more alert in his life. Never been more aware of his breathing, his heartbeat, the distance between him and Lily. He could smell her if he took a deep enough breath, but he’d already been caught smelling her once tonight, there was no need to go through that ordeal again. 

Though he was fairly sure that he’d caught her sniffing him earlier, so perhaps it wouldn’t be a big deal. Sirius wasn’t here to harass him this time…

No. No, he shouldn’t sniff her. That would be creepy. 

But then his mind went back to the bed and he clenched his jaw. 

“Alright, so you can take the bed,” James said, his voice thick and low. Clearly he was doing nothing to hide what he had just been thinking about while staring at his bed. 

Lily started tripping over her words, making little to no sense and making James question whether or not he was infinitely more drunk than he had thought he was. She cleared her throat and looked at him, “What I was trying to say,” she said, her hands folded in front of her and her brow furrowed in concentration. She’d definitely had more to drink than he had thought she would when the night started. “Is that it is _ your _ bed, I’m not going to make you sleep on the floor or on the couch or something.” 

“Well you’re a guest in my flat.” James shrugged, his hand jumping up to his hair as he started to imagine a scenario where they were both sharing the bed. A scenario where there was little to no sleeping involved. “And as a gentleman—” he almost cringed, since his current thoughts were decidedly ungentlemanly, “—I cannot ask you to sleep on the floor or the couch. And since we don’t have a guest room…” He motioned to the bed. “It’s fine, Lily. The couch isn’t that uncomfortable.” 

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and then cleared her throat again. “We’re two grown ups.” She shrugged. 

James narrowed his eyes and nodded. “That’s true.” 

“No, I mean—” she paused and shook her head. “I mean we’re adults and we don’t have to make things weird.” 

“Things aren’t weird. I’ll sleep on the couch and you can sleep in my bed…” He’d slowed down too much at the end there, and it was obvious that he was stuck up on the fact that she would be sleeping in his bed. Lily Evans, the girl that he’d fancied for the entire semester, would be sleeping in his bed, after falling asleep on his shoulder, after getting drunk with him, after coming over to study. 

Sure, she would have left if the weather had allowed it, but he was choosing not to think about that part. 

“We should share the bed, James,” she said bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest. 

James blinked at her. 

“What?” His voice came out embarrassingly squeaky. 

“It’s not weird to share a bed.” Her voice was too loud and her cheeks were flushed. James wondered if his mates could hear her. He hoped not. 

“No.” He was nodding his head, his hand buried in his hair. “No, of course it’s not weird to share a bed. I just didn’t think that it was something that you’d be okay with.” 

“If I wasn’t okay with it, I wouldn’t have offered,” she pointed out. “That way neither of us has to sleep on the couch. We can just put some pillows in the middle or something.”

“In the middle of the bed?” James probably sounded a bit thick, but he couldn’t actually focus on the fact that she was suggesting that they share a bed. That would be too much for him. 

“Yeah, you know, like a wall of pillows so we don’t accidentally roll into each other’s space while we’re sleeping.” She shrugged as though it were no big deal, as though her cheeks weren’t still red. As though James couldn’t hear his heart beating in his ears. 

“Right, yeah.” 

Lily tilted her head to the side and tugged at the shirt that she’d borrowed from him. His name was printed in thick white letters on the back. He swallowed hard, feeling like one of those cartoon men whose gulps were audible when they were struck dumb by a pretty girl. 

“Or not,” Lily was looking down at the floor now. “If you’d rather sleep on the couch-”

“No!” Now his voice was too loud. “No,” he said quietly. “Um, I guess I’m just- Well I mean- I’ll get some extra pillows.” He spun on his heels and walked out of his room, toward the hall closet. Sirius was leaning against his door frame with a knowing smirk on his face. At least, James thought it was a knowing smirk. 

“Did you see what I did to Peter?” he asked, nodding his head slowly. 

James narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “I haven’t seen Peter in hours.” He looked toward the rubber duck shower curtain that hung where Peter’s door should be. 

“I drew pen-”

“Sirius, I don’t have time for this right now.” He pulled open the closet and reached for the spare pillows that Remus’s mum had told him to bring. They’d never had need for them until now. He nabbed a few clean pillow cases as well, grateful that Remus had all of this stuff here and accessible. 

“Well what’s got your pickle pricked?” 

James closed the door and turned back toward Sirius. “I don’t think that’s a saying.”

“I drew penises all over Peter’s face.” 

James pressed his lips together. “In Sharpie?”

“Of course.” 

“Nice.” 

“What’s with all the pillows?” 

“They’re for Lily.” James shifted from one foot to the other. 

“I didn’t realize she was a princess.” 

“Goodnight, Sirius.” 

“Night, James.” He winked at him, and James hurried back to his room. 

Lily had pulled back the blankets on his bed and used the pillow from the left side of the bed to make a small barrier in the middle of the bed. She smiled at him when he walked in, and he wondered if there was a way to get her to smile at him every time he walked into a room. Usually when they saw each other in class, she was frowning or glaring or pretending that she couldn’t see him at all. But tonight he’d seen her smile more than ever before.

It was sort of brilliant.

“Here you are.” He handed her the pillows and she took them from him with a small giggle. 

“I feel like I’m building some kind of pillow fort,” she said as she put another pillow in the middle of the bed and then the last pillow at the head of the bed. “All we need is a few sheets pinned from the ceiling, some Star Wars movies and I’m back home with Mary and Bartok.” 

“Bartok?”

Lily shrugged and gave him a half-smile. “My cat.”

“You named your cat after a bat?”

Lily’s grin got a bit wider as she realized he knew where the name was from. “Of course I did. You should see the ears on him.” 

How was she so calm about all of this? He thought she had been putting on a show earlier, but now she was going on about cat ears and some girl named Mary and pillow forts. 

“You’re sure that you’re alright with this?” he asked again, sitting down on his side of the pillow barrier. 

Lily looked up at him through her lashes as she started smoothing the wrinkles out of the bed sheet and then the pillow. “Why wouldn’t I be okay with it?” 

He took a deep breath and he should have just kept his mouth shut, but then he was saying, “Because up until you were two shots deep tonight, you haven’t been able to stand talking to me. At all. And I don’t want you to do anything now, while you’re still drunk, that’s going to make you hate me even more tomorrow.” She blinked at him and lowered herself to the bed, pulling her legs under her. 

He grabbed his pillow. “I’ll just go sleep on the couch.” 

Lily reached out and grabbed the other side of his pillow. “No. I don’t hate you James. Never have.” 

“Right.” He wasn’t looking at her now, but he did let go of the pillow. “So earlier today, in the library, that was just playful teasing?” 

She smiled at him and tossed his pillow back toward where it should be. She missed and it fell to the ground. James almost laughed as he picked it up. “No, it wasn’t. I was in a mood and I took it out on you because you somehow manage to best me at all of the quizzes and exams even though you’re not even a Chemistry major. _ I _am. You’re some artsy major.” She stuck out her bottom lip and James did laugh. “Which is fine,” she looked up at him, her eyes bright and playful. “But I feel like I should be able to best you some times.” 

“You do.” 

“Alright, I feel like I should be able to best you _ all _of the time.” 

“You don’t do that.” 

“I know.” She reached for the blankets and then fell back onto her pillow. “You’re so good looking, you shouldn’t be as smart as you are.” Her eyes were closed and she said it like it was no big deal. Like she wasn’t complimenting him at all, or making his heart drum happily in his chest. 

“I don’t think _ you _ can say that.” He slowly got into bed, pulling off his t-shirt and tossing it to the ground as he leaned down on his pillow. He couldn’t look over at her after returning her compliment in such a cop-out sort of way, so he just laid there, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Well, I’m an anomaly.” Lily giggled again. 

“Ah, I think I’d have to agree with that.” James turned his head and found her looking at him. “You never hated me?” 

“Nah,” she bit her bottom lip and scrunched up her face. “I didn’t.” She reached up and pushed her hair out of her face. “Wanted to sometimes. Couldn’t quite figure it out.” 

James laughed, feeling damn close to giddy now. “And now you’re in my bed.”

Lily laughed and buried her face in the pillow for a moment. She looked back up at him, “Wearing your shirt no less.” 

“You can take if off it you want,” He winked. “I did like that neon colored thing you were wearing underneath.” 

“It’s called a bra, James. Don’t be a child. And we can’t both be shirtless.” She sighed and covered her eyes with her palms. “I can’t believe you saw me in my bra.”

“I can’t believe you started changing with the door open.” 

“Well I didn’t expect anyone to chase me into the room.”

“I didn’t chase you. I just came in to help you find something clean to wear.” 

“Yeah, after you hit me with a door!” 

“I did not hit you with a door! I just got a little too enthusiastic in my victory hug.” Lily snorted and shook her head, bringing the blankets up to her chin and then reaching over the pillow barrier to pull them up over James as well. 

“Well, we won, so I guess it’s alright.” 

“You’re not, you know, super competitive or anything are you?” 

Lily didn’t dispute him. “You’re just lucky that you were on my team tonight.” He turned onto his side so that he was fully facing her now. 

“Are you still drunk?”

“Yes. You?” 

“Little bit.” He nodded. “I’m glad that you got stuck here tonight.” 

“That sounded vaguely serial killery.” 

“Perhaps that’s the reason that I didn’t want you in my room alone.” 

“The bodies are in the closet, aren’t they?” 

“Obviously I can’t tell you where they are.” 

“I’m glad I got stuck here tonight too.” Lily grinned, reaching her hand over and booping him on the nose. He reached up and caught her hand before she pulled away.

“I’m gonna keep this for a while.” 

“My hand?”

James smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” He laced his fingers through hers. 

“Your phrasing could use some work.”

“I’m drunk.” He shrugged, none too concerned since she was letting him hold her hand while she was in his bed, wearing his clothes. He laughed. “This is a dream isn’t it? We fell asleep on the couch hours ago and this is all just a dream.” 

“Pretty tame for a dirty dream.” 

James looked at her with his brow raised. “Who said anything about a dirty dream?” He wanted to make her blush, but she just stuck him with a look and then laughed. 

“So in this dream that you’re having about me, I build a wall of pillows between us?” 

James smirked and started playing with her fingers. “Sure, but you let me hold your hand.” 

She was quiet, so he had to look over at her and check if she was sleeping. “You’re kind of sweet, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice quieter, less full of laughter. The mirth was still there though, her eyes were still bright, but there was something a bit softer about her now. 

James shrugged, looking back at her hand. He felt the flush creeping up his neck. “I can be.” 

“I like it,” She squeezed his hand, and when he looked over at her this time, her eyes were closed. 

He smiled at her, “Goodnight, Lily.” 

“G’night,” she mumbled against the pillow. 

James kept her hand and soon, sleep found him too. 

* * *

**Sirius Black to Pete Sucks:** _ ATTENTION DENIZENS OF FLAT 3B! OUR VERY OWN JAMES POTTER HAS A GIRL IN HIS ROOM AT THIS VERY MOMENT _

Sirius Black:_ I CAN HEAR HIM RAVISHING HER _

Sirius Black:_ WHY JAMES YOU ANIMAL _

Sirius Black:_ MY POOR VIRGIN EARS CANNOT TAKE SUCH IMPROPRIETIES _

Remus Lupin:_ Sirius literally nothing after that first text is true. _

Remus Lupin:_ Our flat has paper thin walls. We would know if James was “ravishing” Lily. _

Sirius Black:_ (i know but i want him to wake up to these texts and think about what could have been were he not such a COWARD) _

Sirius Black:_ WHO KNEW JAMES WAS CAPABLE OF SUCH RAW SEXUAL POWER _

Sirius Black:_ I ENVY PETE’S DRUNKENNESS SO HIS MIND WILL NOT REMAIN FOREVER SCARRED FROM THE EVENTS OF THIS NIGHT _

Remus Lupin:_ You absolutely do not envy Pete. _

Sirius Black:_ YES I DO. LUCKY BASTARD. UNTAINTED BY SOUNDS OF OUR BEST FRIEND’S RABID LOVEMAKING. _

Remus Lupin:_ Yeah he might not think he’s so lucky when he wakes up and looks in the mirror. _

Sirius Black:_ lol tru get reckd pete _

Sirius Black:_ MUCH LIKE OUR OWN NEW FRIEND LILY IS CURRENTLY BEING _

Remus Lupin:_ Nope. Nope. Nope. That’s enough. One more text about Lily being “wrecked” by James and I won’t tell you the new WiFi password. _

Sirius Black:_ YOU’VE KNOWN THIS WHOLE TIME?? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?? _

Remus Lupin:_ Mainly because it’s been a laugh. _

**Sirius Black changed the group name to Remus Sucks**

* * *

There’s nothing quite like waking up slightly hungover in a strange bed. Not to mention, Lily has never done things by halves, and her sleep-self decided to wrap herself around her strange not-so-strange bedfellow. 

_ Well this is very undeniable _ , she mused to herself even as she began slowly disengaging from James’ warm toasty and, yes, _ yummy _form. Never before had being such a high-effort snuggler become such a deadly affair.

But things never quite seemed to go according to plan, so James’ sleep roughened voice broke into her thoughts. “Morning, Evans.”

Breathing out a shaky laugh, Lily continued to pull back, but James latched onto her hand like those little finger handcuffs they hand out at arcades. As he tugged her closer, Lily felt his lungs expand and exhale, her breath mirroring his.

She’d just thrown caution to the wind and pressed her lips to his bare shoulder when James chuckled softly. “If I wasn’t so very hungover, I would think this was a drunken hallucination.”

“Last night I was a dream, now I’m a hallucination,” she teased. “So which is it?”

He twisted and Lily was hit with the full force that is James Potter before nine in the morning, and hell if he wasn’t the most glorious sight she’d ever beheld. It was really gross, honestly, how he was all golden and messy haired and twinkle eyed, first thing.

James’ eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her, fighting very hard to stay cool in the face of what was likely an unintended slip of the tongue. “Whichever’s more beautiful. Glad to hear I’m _ glorious _.”

He was blushing, she was blushing, it was all really way out of the realm of embarrassment by now so Lily just leaned into her admission, smacking her lips. “Yeah, you’re pretty gorgeous, but you’ve got terrible taste in toothpaste.”

“Got a problem with spearmint?”

Her fingers brushed along his collarbone while his toyed with the ends of her hair, his eyes hazy. It might've been romantic, but it had been established at this point that James’ non-assisted eyesight is shite, so he probably was only seeing a blob of cream and auburn. But then he carded his fingers through her hair now, massaging the base of her neck _ right _ where her headache was forming. _ Oh. _ That was good.

To keep from moaning, Lily smirked. “I do when my mouth still tastes like stale - was that bloody paint thinner last night?”

James pulled her closer and it was just - a lot. Being that close, feeling his skin against hers, wearing his jersey, his legs tangled with hers, a bed entirely to themselves as he whispered into her hairline. Just so much. “Sorry to hear you’re not satisfied with the accommodations.”

Really, just plain unbearable. 

“Some of it has been alright.”

His lips brushed her forehead and her hands grasped at his shoulders, her entire body alight with happiness and something else unnamable. At least she could enjoy his answering sharp inhale before he murmured, “Anything we can do to improve your stay?”

And maybe she’d lost her mind or finally come to her senses after a semester of denial, but Lily scooted up and pressed her lips to his. He was warm and soft and a little stale when he sucked in a surprised breath. When she pulled back and let her eyes drift open again, James’ face had settled into a gentle smile, his eyes crinkled at the corners and his cheeks rosy.

“Point taken.”

As he leaned back in, Lily murmured against his mouth, “Must be mindful of your TripAdvisor rating.” 

Before, Lily thought sparring with James in class set her pulse thrumming like nothing else, but now he’s surpassed that feeling by leaps and bounds. Her hands searched while his tongue dragged across the seam of her lips, his palms slipped torturously slow up over the small of her back then down beneath the waistband of her trousers to cup her bum. 

For her part, Lily tickled over his chest and eventually gripped at James’ bed-head curls, drawing a moan from his lips. 

The bed creaked beneath them as James dragged her to loom over him - or perhaps she rolled him onto his back - and their kisses were punctuated by equal parts elated grins and satisfied sighs.

Until the door slammed open and James frantically grabbed for the sheet they’d apparently abandoned, dragging it up over Lily’s freckled legs.

“You’ll never—” Sirius paused dramatically – a descriptor that felt redundant when dealing with Sirius, Lily had come to think – then leaned against the doorjamb. “Well, my news just got less exciting.”

Lily felt James’ growl rumble through his chest. He held her head there a bit like a rugby ball as he shifted to presumably toss a pillow at Sirius, which judging by the muffled yelp, landed true.

She laughed, and somehow her lips brushed against James’ nipple - if only yesterday Lily could see today Lily now - and his breath caught. His eyes darkened, no longer glaring at Sirius, and Lily hitched her leg over James’ hip. “Sirius, get the fuck out unless you want to see me ravish James.”

James’ full laughter muffled Sirius’ muttering, but he didn't quiet, so Lily decided to pull out all the stops. “Please tell your best mate to leave so I can pull your trousers off with my teeth.”

James' laughter cut off with a delighted gasp. “Lily Potter!”

His immediate flush let Lily know that she had not in fact hallucinated the little slip of the tongue. Even if she’d been unsure, Sirius low whistle and the subsequent click as he pulled the door shut certainly made the point.

Lily inched her way back up to eye level with James. “So.”

He toyed with her hair, lips swollen from their earlier adventures in snogging and his eyes studiously avoided hers. Eventually he murmured quietly, “So what?”

Her finger found the little dimple in his chin. “What’s next?”

A shiver ran up Lily’s spine as James’ fingers returned to tease her skin. “Well next we could do a little of this,” he whispered, and his lips found her jaw, her ear, “And some of this.”

Lily nuzzled his cheek, breath heavy as she nipped at his neck, “Some of ah - this?” and then because she couldn’t let him distract her from an adequate ribbing with those glorious lips, Lily teased, “Just maybe not wedding bells quite yet.”

Chuckling, James cupped Lily’s jaw and dropped his forehead against hers. “_ Yet _. Oh how the tables have turned.”

Lily laughed softly. “Is this how we go then - disgustingly fluffy or at each other’s throats?”

“S’not so bad.”

“This had better not be a play to get me to fail the quiz.”

He scoffed. “Never.”

“Because,” Lily began, pushing up to sit back, claiming James as her throne, “I _ am _going to destroy you.”

“Of course,” James conceded, voice a little strangled as she shifted above him.

“Stop humoring me, I’m serious.”

“No, actually Sirius is—”

Grabbing James’ shoulders a little more tightly than would be considered strictly sensual, Lily grumbled, “I will actually murder you.”

James’ answer formed almost immediately but was cut off by the almighty grumble from Lily’s belly, and he laughed hard enough to nearly knock her from her perch. “Breakfast?”

* * *

“And then obviously the story softens up a bit there, because they come out of the room fully clothed and I, like the gracious and magnanimous brother that I am, offer to make them breakfast.” 

Mary clicks again and the slide changes to a picture of Lily stuffing a waffle into her mouth rather indelicately. _ REMUS IS MY FAVORITE. HE MADE WAFFLES. _

The audience laughs and Sirius scoffs, “That’s not how I remember it.” 

“You are _ shameless _!” Remus calls from his seat in front of the stage, and Sirius winks.

“And my slideshow doesn’t lie.” Mary shrugs. She clicks again and the projector is now showing a text chain between the two girls where Lily tells Mary that James as referred to her as ‘Lily Potter’ and Mary replies by telling her that she’s dumb if she thinks she’s not going to marry him and his gorgeous, lickable body.

Sirius snorts and nods. “So we stood before you tonight and shared the story of how James and Lily met. Or rather, how they got together. They wanted us to keep things light, they wanted us to stand here and bore you all with anecdotes and drivel.” 

“No offence Vernon,” Mary winces as she turns to offer her fake apology. 

“Some offence,” Sirius shrugs and finishes off his drink. “Your speech was dead boring,” At least this wasn’t directly into the mic so only half the guests heard. Unfortunately, Lily’s brother-in-law is one of them. Sirius hears Lily click her tongue. 

“Not all of us can be Public Speaking majors like you, Sirius,” Lily scolds halfheartedly.

“You know, I never did figure out what you majored in,” Mary remarks.

“Wasting my shitty parents’ money?”

“Wasn’t a total waste. You are fluent in Russian now,” James pipes up.

“Отвали,” Sirius responds with a smile.

“He was actually the first person in the history of Hogwarts University to graduate with a degree in ‘Undecided Studies,’” Remus informs the crowd.

“Yes, McGonagall was eager to just get rid of me by the end. But we have gotten off track.”

“True! This night is about the lovely couple behind us,” Mary says as she gestures to the newlyweds.

“So let us all raise whatever we’re drinking in a toast to James and Lily.” Sirius’s tumbler is empty now, but he still holds it up. 

“Our loser mates who knew that they were going to marry one another after the first night that they spent together!”

“Well, we knew.” Sirius nudges Mary. “I think they were still pretending that they didn’t for a while.” 

“Deep down, Lily knew. I mean James called her ‘Lily Potter’ about two seconds after their first kiss. So he knew the opposite of deep down. He knew right on the tippy top.” Sirius snorts. 

The couple watch as their mates wrap up their speech, mortified that some of their older relatives had to witness that and hopeful that no one would ask them any questions. 

James leans over and presses a quick kiss to Lily’s hairline. “Alright, Evans?” 

Lily’s face is flushed, and it has been since Mary’s first slide. She turns to him with the smile that’s been stuck on her face since she woke up this morning, despite all of Mary and Sirius’s teasing. “Really? After all that -” she motions to their friends, “- and _ now _you call me Evans? Now that we’re married and my name actually is Lily Potter?” 

James chuckles and leans in closer. “Lily Potter,” he repeats. “At long last.” 

He says it as though he’s being sweet. As though they’ve gone through some big and dramatic courtship, had to postpone the wedding due to war and then almost called it quits. Lily snorts, a sound that James has long since stopped pretending isn’t cute. “Bloody hell, James, we’ve only been together for two years! Sue me for waiting until graduation.”

“Well, I’ve been waiting to marry you that whole time.”

Lily grins and leans into her husband. “You’re sweet.” 

“Yeah,” James says, and tightens his arm around her. “I know.” 

**Author's Note:**

> We hope you all enjoyed reading this because we all had a blast writing it!!!
> 
> Visit us at:  
gryffindormischief.tumblr.com  
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thejilyship.tumblr.com


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